The Altar Life: Worship Beyond Words Living Sacrificially for ChristAir Date: Jun. 17, 2025

Beth Barlet (00:00)
Living sacrificially for Christ is not for everyone. Today, you will discover if this life is for you. Join me as I will dive into Romans 12, 1 and what it truly means to worship God. Let’s get to it. Salty Begins right now.

Beth Barlet (00:37)
Welcome to Salted, where I help you uncover the transformative power to know and love Jesus in His fullness and stir up revival within your heart. Join me, Beth Barlett, as I come alongside you every week on the narrow path that draws us into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Get ready to be encouraged, empowered, ignited and equipped as we pursue authentic discipleship to influence the world for the Kingdom of God.

Beth Barlet (01:08)
Hey everyone, welcome to the newest episode of the Salted Podcast. We are diving today into the second part of our worship series as we talk about what it really means to live as a living sacrifice. I pray all of you are having an awesome week and that the Lord would just use me today to just stir your heart and bring you that much more into a deeper and consecrated relationship with the Lord.

I am so grateful for our time together today. Let’s get to it. All right. Well, as we continue our worship series, I want today to dive into the verse specifically Romans 12, one, whereas we as followers of Jesus are called to live our lives as living sacrifices.

holy and pleasing to God as a form of worship and examine what it looks like in our lives to be a quote-unquote living sacrifice.

So Romans 12, 1, it states,

Alright, well now we know that it’s not about literal bloodshed, but a complete surrender of our lives to God, where we willingly sacrifice our desires and priorities to align with His will. However, before we commit to this profound act of devotion, we must count the cost. And in this episode, I pray that you will more fully understand and be that much more willing to joyfully embrace the implications and sacrifices involved in truly living for Christ. You know,

I just recently read another new article about another person dying because of wanting to get the best selfie photo. Literally people are falling off cliffs and waterfalls and high mountains just to get their best selfie. And these deaths have become a literal modern day crisis and health problem, both literally and spiritually. This foundation found that over 379 people were killed while taking selfies around the world.

between January 2008 and July 2021.

But I bring this up just to reflect that the world we live in and how strong our fleshy desires are to feed ourselves. These people weren’t paying attention and they were willing to go to the very edge, the brink of literal death and take the risk just to look their best and get their best selfie possible for social media. And I bring this up because it truly reflects the world in which we live and how strong our fleshy desires are to feed ourselves.

And I think it’s just an outward representation of truly what we can’t see that goes on in our hearts. We all live in a culture that glorifies and for that matter is obsessed with vanity, selfish desires, self-promotion, ambition, gratification, indulgence, and self-centeredness. And how much more intentional do we as Christ followers have to be to live paradoxically to the world around us and to instead choose to deny ourselves and all the world has to offer?

so that we would have and behold that much more of God. Jesus has taught us that to follow him, we must leave our own lives, desires, and ways of this world behind and be 100 % committed to his way, his teachings, and his commands, prioritizing his will when we are born again to his kingdom, drawing us to even be willing to give up the things most important to us, our friends, our families, all that we possess to follow him wholeheartedly into eternity.

and joyfully embrace the hardships and challenges that may come with doing so. Just as Christ having shown his disciples that he must suffer and that he was ready and willing to suffer on the cross, that we too must be ready and willing and drink from the same cup as our master. He was the spotless lamb, the perfect sacrifice. In Luke 9 23 states, then he said to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

Or 16, 24, 26. Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Or to Timothy 2, 3, 4. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

Or lastly, Galatians 2.20 But to do so, Jesus tells us boldly that we must be those who set our minds not on things of man, but of God. Now, we all know the verse is that as Christ followers, we are to deny ourselves if we are to follow him and pick up our crosses.

But what the Lord reminded me of as I was reading this past week was the situation and verse before Jesus tells the disciples what it means to follow him.

Right before he tells the disciples what he must suffer and endure, he willingly tells them that he will be sacrificing and laying down his life for the salvation of all humanity and fulfill the will of God. And right after it’s Peter who rebukes Jesus and says, fart from me, Rabbi, that will not happen to you. And immediately Jesus rebukes Peter and says, get behind me, Satan.

for you are setting your minds on things of man and not things of God.

If we are to be like Jesus and sacrifice our lives for God, we must keep the same perspective and bind our mindsets to that of our Lord. We must be less concerned and aligned with human concerns that seek comfort, pleasure, power, and more aligned with God’s will and glory.

He tells Peter that his humanistic mindsets, which have a preference for comfort, is actually a hindrance to his mission on earth and that we too can believe it’s a hindrance to ours. If we look at Satan’s schemes and what is keeping the church from walking out the fullness of our mission and undermining our calling, we can discern how we can safeguard our saltines to stay on the narrow road. One of the strongest weapons against the enemy and his temptations is our mindsets, heart postures, and mentality.

It is no coincidence that Apostle Paul tells us that we are to take every thought captive and demolish arguments of the mind and obedience to Christ. And we are reminded that in the second half of Romans 12, that to live as living sacrifices, that we are reminded that we are to continually not be conformed to the ways of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds with God’s word. But the Holy Spirit helps us if we willingly submit to Him.

Additionally, in 1 Corinthians 2, 12, we are taught that the spirit is of power, love, and a sound mind. God’s spirit is linked to our mind. So if we yield to his spirit, then our minds will be sound, disciplined, self-controlled, and focused on the things of God.

It is focusing on these eternal mindsets and meditating on God’s truth and word that keep us focusing on the things of God.

and in turn are what birthed within us the love that willingly gives up these sacrifices and allows us to measure these sacrifices differently so we can in turn bear these costs with joy. You know, the other day as I was standing out in the freezing cold weather with no socks or shoes on in my pajamas and no coat in our driveway watching our trash truck because my son is obsessed and had to run out to watch him get our trash, the Lord revealed to me

that sacrifice our willingness to selflessly pour out ourselves and deny ourselves for another is one of the ways that God has made us in his image to display our love. Walking through two seasons of infanthood as a mom, I’ve lived out firsthand what it means to sacrifice. Coming out of one of the hardest seasons of physical, emotional, mental exhaustion with no sleep,

Breastfeeding around the clock and a baby who in the beginning wouldn’t nap and would continually cry while trying to love and care for my two-year-old and give him the attention he needs It’s because of my love for my babies that I would do anything for them even if it’s at my expense

And moms, as a new mom, we know a little bit of what it means to be a living sacrifice fueled by love. When for our littles, we sacrifice sleep, friendships, comfort, me time, privacy, our body image, our freedoms, our hobbies, careers, diet restrictions, all these things for the health and comfort and overall wellbeing for our little ones.

Or if you’re not a mom, I’m sure you can see and look back in ways your parents lovingly made selfless decisions to sacrifice for you and your wellbeing.

I see the love and sacrifice my husband makes to provide for our family and also how he selflessly makes breakfast for the family every morning before going to work. Similarly, like the love of a parent, one of the main ways we show our love, loyalty, and devotion to Jesus is through our surrendered lives of sacrifice. And every day, not only do we fully give him the devotion of our hearts, but this devotion and love overflows into how we prioritize our lives.

And as discussed in the previous episode, our love for God, Jesus tells us that those who are forgiven much love much, and our love is a response to God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. And the best depiction of this concept is seen through the story of the woman with alabaster jar in the gospels, who wept at Jesus’ feet in gratitude for who he was,

and he had done and poured out the most expensive bottle of perfume to anoint him, one that historians equate to something worth a year’s worth of wages, everything that she had out of her love for him and devotion, knowing that he was her savior, lord, and king, and that he would give all of himself to sacrifice everything so that she would live through him.

But to unlock Luke 7 47, you need to understand the context of the story. So let’s draw some insights from it.

named Simon. They were interrupted by a sinful woman who entered with a jar filled with expensive perfume and she knelt at the feet of Jesus in front of all the guests weeping.

She covered his feet with the tears that fell from her face and wiped his feet with her long hair. After that she began kissing his feet and anointed them with the expensive perfume that would have cost her more than a year’s earnings. By faith she went searching for Jesus and found him in the house and expressed her gratitude to him in advance with the beautiful act of worship, trusting that he too would raise her from the dead and give her a new life to start afresh. When Simon saw her act and how Jesus didn’t chase her away, he thought to himself,

If Jesus truly were a prophet, he’d not have allowed the sinful women to come near him. Who in comparison was a self righteous Pharisee who barely even offered Jesus a kiss. Smug, prideful, quote unquote good, and by no means in of saving. And there’s so much symbolism in the alabaster jar, her pouring out the perfume that we can apply to our own lives symbolically to make sure our hearts are in the same posture of devout love and worship as his women.

As my pastor once asked, it is decision that we must all make whether or not we are going to live our lives from a place that is lukewarm and satisfied as quo as those who have forgotten or become desensitized to what he has bought for us for all eternity or live our lives sold out fully like this woman in wholeheartedly, pouring out all of her oil to love and give our entire lives to Jesus. And further, if we have decided in our hearts to bear that cost for what he paid the price for in our eternal lives,

What is in the alabaster jars that the Lord is wanting of us to pour out and surrender at His feet?

In scripture, there were key figures who set a high and holy standard for worship and devotion to God. Individuals such as Samuel, Samson, John the Baptist, who fully dedicated their lives for his glory, known as Nazarites. They were those devoted to giving up not only the ways of this world and sinful pleasures, but even at times the best life for more of God. Those who counted and willingly chose to bear the cost and sacrifice of their time, relationships, comfort, convenience, self-will, and pleasures of this life.

Although we are not called to necessarily not drink alcohol, not cut our hair, or be around the dead as they were called, God wants more of us. He wants the entirety of our hearts, but that which can be measured by external works, seen through our time, our relationships, our comfort, and our self-will. The brother of Jesus, James, so beautifully puts it, that faith without works is dead. And I love the analogy I keep hearing that breaks the concept of sacrifice down so simply.

If we were to break down a breakfast sandwich that had bacon and eggs on it, we are not to be like the chicken who just gave a piece of his abundance, but like the pig who gave

The chicken and the pig committed, but the pig is the one who

Jesus wants us to be all in with all of our hearts, all of our soul, all of our strength, and all of our minds. And what does this mean? It means counting the costs.

Discipleship is the sacrifice of our time. Following Christ means prioritizing His work above everything else, which can mean dedicating significant time to prayer, God’s Word, and serving others. It means changing our relationships. Our commitment to God may sometimes conflict with worldly priorities or even relationships that don’t align with His teachings. This means sacrificing intimate relationships, friendships, and pleasure in order to be more in line with God’s will for our lives.

Or also renouncing comfort and convenience. Living a life dedicated to Christ may require us to step outside our comfort zones and make sacrifices for personal desires.

or self-will. True surrender means putting aside our agenda and submitting to God’s plan, even when it’s challenging. Embracing hardships and trials knowing God is using them for good according to His purposes, using them to conform us into the image of His Son and that they are producing within us glory beyond our imaginations.

Additionally, these Nazarites

guarded themselves from the worldly culture, so they could be in the world but those who set themselves apart from the world. And we too are to guard ourselves to maintain our heart posture that is not more concerned with the things of man versus the things of God, enabling us to more easily bear the costs expected of us as Jesus’ followers. It means guarding what I watch.

what I listen to and who I hang around with

Because what is conceived in the mind slowly grows and transforms the heart. Proverbs 23, 7 states, For as he thinks in his heart, so he is. Essentially meaning that a person’s inner thoughts and intentions greatly influence who they are and how they act. And if we are continually inundated with it, we can start to become desensitized to the waywardness of the world and we can start to accept it and then embrace it and then ultimately love it. Where instead,

throw off the sin that so easily entangles us and prevents us from running the race of endurance as we wait our prize in heaven. Hebrews 12, 1.

is the music we listen to and the shows we watch glorifying God. Would Jesus sit and listen or watch this with me?

Would it grieve his heart to watch sexual immorality, murder, and stealing on TV? Would you allow a murderer, a rapist, a thief, a witch, or a demon into your home? If not, then why do you allow them on your phone, on your social media, listening to your music, and through your TV?

It’s the same reason I guard what my children listen to or watch, because I don’t want them to think that way we’re living in society is good, right, and normal, but that it’s sinful and evil

I don’t want them to accept wayward living as an acceptable way of life and what is normal.

but I want them to be raised through the lens of a biblical perspective and see sin for what it is, to be discerning of what it is, so they can in turn overcome temptation and not be deceived about it. Luke 11 34 says, the lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. You know, maybe it’s not watching horror movies and violence or sexual scenes on TV. Maybe it’s just taking breaks from social media

avoiding it altogether because we know that if we’re not careful it actually feeds comparison, competition, jealousy, pride, anger, approval of man, all the things the Holy Spirit is trying to kill within us in our flesh. It’s choosing in advance to deny ourselves by making a firm decision to not sleep with my boyfriend outside of marriage, sitting at a different table than those who like to gossip at work, or even leaving a church community who you love because they teach an affirmed sin that is contrary to God’s will and word.

If we are to be set apart, we must guard and limit our exposure to things that are displeasing and are dishonoring God, but also be prepared to explain why with gentleness. Jesus tells us that no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9 62. Jesus warns us through the example of Lot’s wife, what happens when we have divided loyalties

In the book of Genesis, God desired to judge and destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah by sulfur and fire because of the sin, wickedness, idolatry, and abominations that took place within its walls, similar to the culture surrounding us today. Genesis 19 24. It was during that time that Abraham’s cousin Lot and his family were living within the city.

But thankfully by the prayers of Abraham and God’s mercy, Lot and his family were removed from the city before the city’s destruction and were spared. However, upon leaving the city, Lot’s family was warned by the angel rescuing them, flee for your life, do not look behind you and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed.

In Lot’s white, stiff obedience, she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt and judgment while the rest of her family was spared. And many scholars believe that when Lot’s wife looked back to the city of Sodom, it represented her reluctance to leave behind and turn away from sinful ways fully and her unhealthy attachment to the things and pleasures of the world. And like many nominal Christians today, although she wanted mercy to be bestowed upon her life and saved from judgment and destruction,

She wasn’t willing to fully turn from her old ways in fervent obedience to her Lord. One may speculate that her behavior reflected her desire for forgiveness without genuine repentance, and that because she lacked the change of heart toward her sin, she was deemed unworthy to be saved and thus turned into a pillar of salt.

By looking back at the evil cities, she’d betrayed her secret longing for that way of life. Her desire for the pleasures of this world and her ties to her worldly life surpassed her desire to honor both her husband and the Lord. She was deemed unworthy to be saved and thus was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot’s wife valued and loved her worldly life and the pleasure of sin so much more she wasn’t able to let fully go and move into the new. She had no desire to change and wasn’t willing to fully abandon all that was asked of her by God.

We must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices and obey God’s voice at all costs so that we can walk in the fullness and center of God’s abundance will for our lives. There are too many of us today who are so satisfied with the things of this world that we are unwilling to lay aside our worldly pleasures to make room for more of heaven in our lives. And through the story of Lot’s wife, we are given a deeper understanding of the consequences of holding on to the things of this world and continuing on the broad path that leads to destruction.

Are we going to church on Sundays but then acting, talking, watching, indulging in the things of the kingdom of darkness focused on humanistic concerns versus God’s concerns?

just as much like people of the world who don’t know Jesus the rest of the week? We must walk out our faith and belief of what’s true, not in what feels right. The world is the device of the devil and his influence is used to pull people away from sacrificial living. Jesus also used this statement, whoever wants to save his life shall lose it in several different contexts.

Regardless of the specifics of the context, following Jesus requires turning our backs on the life that this world offers. Attempting to save your life is the same as looking back. An attachment to our old life will cause us to lose our lives and Lot’s wife is an illustration example that we all need to remember. She wasn’t willing to bear the cost of discipleship and therefore it cost her. Sister, it is easy to receive the gift of salvation.

It is a beautiful gift freely given from the Lord that is simply a heart posture of saying yes, believing that Jesus is the Son of God and he is our Lord and Savior.

He died on the cross and died on the cross for our sins and took the punishment that we deserve that he did not deserve so that we would be free from sin and death and be with him forever for all eternity.

However, a decision to follow him to walk as an authentic follower of Jesus and a disciple calls for us to live a life that is hard, one that follows the only narrow path that leads to life. But like that of the man who found the most precious pearl and sold all that he had to buy the entire field, when we encounter the precious love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ that cleanses us forever,

For the gravity and seriousness of sin, what the world would call a sacrifice because of our love for our Savior, the cost we bear in our heart is worth it all. As I always remind myself, I am called a disciple and follower of Jesus to a higher standard of living. And I believe this as a Salty Woman of God. I am not to just seek to be a good mom, a good wife, a good employee or friend, but I am called to represent and become more like Jesus to be his advocate.

and his ambassador to the world through my decisions of self denial and sacrifice.

While counting the cost might seem daunting, the reward of a life fully devoted to Christ is immeasurable. By intentionally choosing to be a living sacrifice, we open ourselves to the transformative power of God’s grace, peace, joy, and love, and then a life that truly reflects His love and purpose for our lives.

Girls, I urge you this week to take time to honestly assess your current level of commitment to God. Are there areas of your life where you need to make a greater sacrifice to align with His will? Consider your aspects of your life that might need adjustment to prioritize your relationship with God. You are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I pray you guys are blessed this week. I can’t wait to be here again with you soon.

Beth Barlet (24:06)
I pray this episode has blessed you today. I appreciate our time together and I hope our conversation has deepened your faith. Don’t forget to check out today’s show notes for episode links and additional information. Be sure to share this podcast with a friend, review it, and hit subscribe so you don’t miss one episode. Go to my website www.thesaltedpodcast.com and subscribe to my newsletter to be part of our Salted community. Remember,

Being salted takes intentionality. See you here next time.