Give Your Whole Life to God

TITLE: No Strings
SCRIPTURE: Read: Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 2:20
THE STORY FOR TODAY:
"Grandma, in Bible times people had to sacrifice animals to God, didn't they?" Kara asked one day. "Why don't we do that now?"
Grandma smiled. "When Jesus died for our sins, He was the perfect sacrifice," she replied. "Animal sacrifices are no longer needed."
"Well . . . when people made a sacrifice, something had to be killed, didn't it?" asked Kara. "What does my memory verse mean when it talks about a 'living sacrifice'?"
"To be a living sacrifice means to give your whole life to God," explained Grandma. She picked up a small piece of yarn. "Pretend this yarn is my life. It's my love, my family, my time, my actions-my everything. Here, honey. I'll give it to you." Grandma held out one end of the yarn. Kara took it, but Grandma kept hold of the other end. "There-my life is all yours now, right? I'm sacrificing it to you." She tugged on the yarn a little as she spoke.
Kara giggled. "Well, then why are you still holding on to it?" she asked.
"Good point," said Grandma. "That's like Christians who say they've made their lives a living sacrifice to serve God, but then they leave 'strings' attached to some areas. For example, they may persist in listening to music with bad lyrics. Or perhaps they leave a 'string' attached to friends and continue to hang around people who have a bad influence on them. It's possible to hold something back in any number of areas." Grandma dropped her end of the yarn. "Tie that into a pretty bow," she said.
"Okay," agreed Kara, but as she began to tie a bow, Grandma reached out and took hold of the yarn again. She tugged it almost out of Kara's grasp. "Grandma!" protested Kara. "What are you doing?"
"That bow you're making is too small," said Grandma. She smiled at Kara's puzzled glance. "Christians sometimes act the way I just did," Grandma explained. "When they don't like the way something is turning out, they try to pull their lives back out of God's hands. To be a 'living sacrifice,' we need to trust God and not try to pull our lives back into our own control."
"Even when we don't like the way something is going, right?" asked Kara. "I think I get it."
MEMORY VERSE: I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. Romans 12:1
HOW ABOUT YOU? Have you given God control of every part of your life? Would He approve of your choice of friends, your school activities, your study habits, your music? If there's an area where you do something that you know doesn't please God, are you willing to give it up? Are you willing to yield every area of your life to Him-no strings attached? Be willing to do whatever He wants.
THE KEY: Give your whole life to God