A Living Sacrifice to God Romans 12 (1)And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. (2)Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (3)Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (4)Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, (5)so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. (6) In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. (7)If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. (8)If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (9)Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. (10)Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. (12)Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. (13)When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. (14)Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. (15)Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. (16)Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! (17)Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. (18)Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. (19)Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. (20)Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” (21)Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. I am far from having accomplished all of the wisdoms in this Scripture. I think this one was meant for me today to remind me that I am not there yet and I am no better than anyone else. It’s easy to sit here and tell everyone else what they should do. Sometimes though, He makes me look in the mirror and see myself as He does to humble me and to help me to see that just because God is using you doesn’t mean that He doesn’t have even bigger plans for you. I’m pretty sure I know where He’s going with this but it’s something I really don’t want to do so we’re having a battle about it. Just so you know, it’s ok to ask God things even if others may thing they are wrong and shouldn’t even be uttered. I’m not going to pretend with God. He knows me to well for me to be able to hide anything from Him, so why not just be honest with Him, right? I love Him and He loves me and I know that He knows what He is doing but it still scares me a little. However, I am confident that He will get me to the point He wants me at in His own time. Anyway, I hope this Scripture in Romans speaks to you this morning as loudly as it has to me for many years. It is worthy of your time and it’s a good place to look at yourself and see the areas that need work. I hope that today that you will know that even when you struggle with God and His path for you, He will never leave you or forsake you. When you fall, He will always be there, right beside you, just waiting for the chance to help you get back up and know that this day is the first day of the rest of your life with Him. I hope that you know how much He loves you and how much Jesus just wants to spend some time with you. He has given everything so that you and I might have eternal forgiveness and salvation. You are not in this battle alone so hold on to Jesus with everything you are. Let others not see you but instead let them see the Savior when they see you, let them hear the Savior when they hear you. Let the light of God’s Eternal Love shine through you and light up the darkness around you. I love you.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 11:36:18 +0000
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