It had been decades since I had been to a roller rink when I laced up on our Elliott’s family vacation. To say I was a bit out of my element would be the understatement of the year. Truth be told, I was a little intimidated. Falling in front of a bunch of teenagers wasn’t on the top of my list of vacation fun.

But since I always try to be the cool dad, I decided to show the kids how it’s done. I was doing great until a totally irresponsible ten-year old boy skated right in front of me. He gave me no choice. I either had to save his life or sacrifice my pride. There was just no way he was going to survive all 200+ pounds of my solid muscle (slight exaggeration), smashing into his tiny body. So, being a pastor, I committed to saving him.

Like a skating ninja, I twisted into an unknown turn and in one fell swoop, at full speed I picked up his frail little body. It was a move that would have been the envy of every linebacker’s dreams as I came crashing to the ground, and he skated off. (Hopefully to think about what he had done wrong.)

While skidding across the skating rink floor, my only saving grace was the carpet-covered wall that finally brought me to a stop. As I lay there, playing it cool and trying not to whimper in pain, I looked up to see that no one cared, they all just skated on as if to say, you don’t belong here old man. And I haven’t been skating since.

So what’s the moral of this story? Some might say it’s that large men over the age of thirty shouldn’t go to roller rinks. Although I agree, I think it’s much deeper than that. The moral of the story is about commitment.

Oh, I know it might be a roundabout way to get there, but hear me out. In a split second, I decided to fully commit my body to falling on the ground. I could have just knocked that poor kid over and skated on. My back would have thanked me, but that would have been the easy thing to do, and I would have nothing to write about today.

It made me think about what we commit our bodies to regularly. Every day we make conscious, deliberate decisions about what we’re going to do with our bodies. Some of those decisions are sinful, some are our regular daily routines, and some are downright deadly. The point is you commit your body to something, but is it right?

Romans 12:1-2 says, “In view of God’s mercy… offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Isn’t it interesting how we offer our bodies to so many things yet often fail to offer it to what’s most important? Our bodies are created by God to be instruments of worship. This is the true way to worship him with your whole being. 

God never designed worship just to be a one-time event or a fifteen-minute experience on a Sunday morning. He designed worship to be a living sacrifice to God with our whole bodies. 

Not to be to cliché, but I find that worshiping keeps me from spiritually crashing. I would encourage you to make it a lifestyle. Commit to offering your body to God daily. It’s the commitment you really need.

Look up these verses to build your faith:

• Psalm 29:2
• Psalm 95:6-7
• Psalm 109:30