When we were kids we used to look for living sacrifices to participate in the various experiments we were performing.  Sometimes it was ants under a magnifying glass, and others times it was worms taped to bottle rockets.  I’m not saying these were good things – I’m just using them as illustrations.  These poor creatures unwillingly gave themselves up to help us accomplish our purposes of having fun.  In the Bible, there were two living sacrifices, and both of them gave themselves up.  The first one was Isaac, the son of Abraham.  Isaac was tied onto an altar and ready to be sacrificed when God brought a ram to be used for the sacrifice instead.  Though the sacrifice wasn’t followed through with, it might as well have been for what it accomplished: a death to himself.  The other living sacrifice was that of Christ.  He gave himself up in obedience to God, and he rose again.  When Paul challenges us in Romans 12:1 to be a living sacrifice, he is challenging us to be like the living sacrifices we see in Scripture; he is challenging us to die to ourselves.  Why?  There are two reasons.  First, it’s a response because of what Christ has done for us.  Secondly, it’s a part of our daily worship.  When is the last time you sacrificed your very self to God as a part worship?