The Third Step: “Present Yourselves...”

Let us observe that this ‘presenting’ relates to the members of my body—that body which, as we said earlier, is now unemployed in respect to sin. “Present yourselves... and your members”, says Paul, and again: “Present your members” (Romans 6:13, 19). God requires of me that I now regard all my members, all my faculties, as belonging wholly to Him.

It is a great thing when I discover I am no longer my own but His. If the ten shillings in my pocket belong to me, then I have full authority over them. But if they belong to another who has committed them to me in trust, then I cannot buy what I please with them, and I dare not lose them. Real Christian life begins with knowing this. How many of us know that, because Christ is risen, we are therefore alive “unto God” and not unto ourselves? How many of us dare not use our time or money or talents as we would, because we realize they are the Lord’s not ours? How many of us have such a strong sense that we belong to Another that we dare not squander a shilling of our money, or an hour of our time, or any of our mental or physical powers?

On one occasion a Chinese brother was traveling by train and found himself in a carriage together with three non-Christians who wished to play cards in order to while away the time. Lacking a fourth to complete the game, they invited this brother to join them. ‘I am sorry to disappoint you’, he said, ‘but I cannot join your game for I have not brought my hands with me.’ ‘Whatever do you mean?’ they asked in blank astonishment. ‘This pair of hands does not belong to me’, he said, and then there followed the explanation of the transfer of ownership that had taken place in his life. That brother regarded the members of his body as belonging entirely to the Lord. That is true holiness.

Paul says, “Present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification (A.V. ‘holiness’)” (Romans 6:19). Make it a definite act. “Present yourselves to God.”