Romans 12:1-15
Practicing the Hand-off

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

New Revised Standard Version

Picture the simple act of handing a pencil to another person. You take the pencil in your hand, hold it towards the bottom so the other person can grab the top, and extend your hand to that person. That other person extends his hand and grabs the top of the pencil, at which time you let go. We don't have to think about the sequence of events, it comes so naturally. There are endeavors where this action demands thought and practice, as in sprinters passing the baton in a relay race and an NFL football quarterback handing off the football to a running back. In the intensity of those athletic competitions, sometimes the baton or ball gets dropped, with calamitous consequences. Management gurus talk about "dropping the ball" when information wasn't disseminated correctly or assignments were not effectively delegated. The metaphor of a "hand-off" is so appropriate in management circles because it requires both people involved to reach out, with the one taking hold, then the other letting go.

My friends, that metaphor doesn't apply to the Christian walk! We pray and sing with earnestness, "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee." We reach ourselves out to God and place our beings like a baton in the Father's eternal hand--but His hand remains open, His fingers never tighten around the baton, and we find it diabolically easy to pull that baton back from the Father's hand.

Paul captured this spiritual struggle when he wrote this intensely powerful chapter of Romans, appealing, exhorting, urging us to be obedient. We are "to present" ourselves to God, and that Greek word is the same word used in Luke 2:22 when Mary and Joseph presented the baby Jesus to God in the Jerusalem temple. Paul calls us to present our physical bodies as a sacrifice in praise of and thanks to God. Yet in contrast to Levitical practice, this body is fully alive and fully capable of climbing off the altar and walking away. Paul describes this offering of our bodies as the outcome of our soul's worship, reminding us that worship must consume every part of us from the inside out. Only by the "mercies of God" our earthly, sinful selves become "holy and acceptable to God". God started the work of redemption in us before time began, and it is God's grace that cleanses us, sets us right, and brings us into God's presence so that we can offer ourselves in love and service to God--and then, sadly, wander away and rescind our offering.

Paul gives us every bit of practical advice he can muster to keep us focused on continually presenting ourselves to God, continuing to be that living sacrifice. We are to engage our minds, our souls, and our bodies in pursuit of the will of God. We are to shun arrogance and pride, which Paul implies is the product of an insane mind; if we understand how God loves and blesses us and God loves every person around us the same way, how can we treat anyone else with condescension?

God has given every person a "measure of faith"--a unique, special, and Holy gift to each individual that allows each to serve God in a way that no one else can do! Some of these are clearly visible, like speaking and teaching the words of God. Some are less visible, like the encourager or the administrator, who serves by magnifying the gifts of others. Some of these measures of faith are to be private and invisible, like the graces of giving and praying for others. Of course, everyone can and should pray, but it is stunning and humbling to realize that God has uniquely equipped you and me, through how we have been "fearfully and wonderfully" made (Ps. 139:14) and what we each have experienced, to offer up the prayers that God has placed in our hearts.

Track coaches expect runners in a relay race to practice handing off the baton hundreds of times each week when they are preparing for competitions. As often as Paul used sports metaphors, I feel certain he watched relay teams practice their hand-offs over and over, fighting against physical fatigue, imprecise hand-eye coordination, and mental monotony, so that they would perform flawlessly on the day of the race.

This repetition is what we are called to do as we present ourselves a living sacrifice. We give ourselves to God, then we do it again and again. Each time we converse with another person we have the chance to be a living sacrifice to God, or to be our sinful selves. Each time we make a choice we have the chance to make that choice for God or for ourselves. Hundreds of times a week we must practice putting our selves in God's hand, over and over, so that by this practice of denying our sinful selves, God can continue making us into who God created us to be.