_Present your bodies_. This means the entire yielding of one's self to
Christ. It corresponds to the Old Testament presentation of the burnt
offering all of which was consumed. Back in the Old Testament times
for fourteen years there had been no song in the temple, for it was
filled with rubbish and uncleanness, but the rubbish was put away and
the uncleanness vanished, the burnt offering was presented and the song
of the Lord began again. If you have lost your song and have been
deprived of the harmony of heaven then present your bodies a living
sacrifice.
There is a threefold division in man's nature.
_The Spirit_, where God abides if we are his children. This is like
the holy of holies.
_The Soul_, which is the abode of the man himself.
_The Body_, which is the outer court.
When Christ was crucified the veil of the temple was rent in twain and
the whole was like one great compartment. I cannot but think that if
we should come to the place of complete consecration, the acceptance in
our lives of what was purchased for us when he was crucified, for us
the veil of the temple would be rent in twain and not only would God
abide in our spirits but he would suffuse our whole nature, look with
our eyes, and speak with our lips. This must have been what Paul meant
when he said, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."