Praise the Lord
for this new day. Our Wednesday Evening gathering was a blast. The food was
sumptuous, the fellowship was sweet, and the study was both provoking and
challenging. We have started, "40 Days of Love ", by Rick Warren. It is 6 week
study series.
I have been
looking at Romans 12: 9 ff. It is written: “Let love be genuine; hate what is
evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo
one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve
the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to
strangers...”
I believe this life-style is called a sacramental life-style. This is what it means to be a living sacrifice. Mary Welchel puts it this way: “At the beginning of my day I literally go through the parts of my body and relinquish each of them to Gods service for the day. ‘Lord, here are my feet. May I walk as Jesus would walk, go where you want me to go.’
“There are places I wouldn’t go because Jesus wouldn’t go there, places that cause me to compromise my stand for Jesus. But that’s probably the easy part of having feet that are living sacrifices. Such feet will take me to places I might not think of going otherwise. I’ll go to people who need me, places of worship, places to minister to others.
"'Here are my hands, Lord. I give them to you so that what I do with them will bring honor to you.’ Hands that are given to God will be busy servant hands, doing things for others. Nothing is too menial, nothing too hard, nothing beneath them. It may mean waiting on someone who is sick, or mopping a floor, or running errands for others.
“‘Lord here are my eyes; I want to see as you see. Here are my ears; may I listen to what you would listen to. And Lord, I give you my tongue. I ask you to control all the words formed by my tongue, that they may be words of help and healing. Lord, my brain is yours; I want to think your thoughts. Here’s my heart, Lord, Put into my heart your love and compassion for all the people I will see today.’
“Presenting the parts of my body individually to God each day is one of the best way I have found to prepare myself for the day ahead, because it reminds me I am not my own, I was bought with a price. And therefore, my body, every part of it, should be a living sacrifice all day long every day.”
“So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us, I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to God’s service and pleasing to God. This is the true worship you should offer. Romans 12.
I believe this life-style is called a sacramental life-style. This is what it means to be a living sacrifice. Mary Welchel puts it this way: “At the beginning of my day I literally go through the parts of my body and relinquish each of them to Gods service for the day. ‘Lord, here are my feet. May I walk as Jesus would walk, go where you want me to go.’
“There are places I wouldn’t go because Jesus wouldn’t go there, places that cause me to compromise my stand for Jesus. But that’s probably the easy part of having feet that are living sacrifices. Such feet will take me to places I might not think of going otherwise. I’ll go to people who need me, places of worship, places to minister to others.
"'Here are my hands, Lord. I give them to you so that what I do with them will bring honor to you.’ Hands that are given to God will be busy servant hands, doing things for others. Nothing is too menial, nothing too hard, nothing beneath them. It may mean waiting on someone who is sick, or mopping a floor, or running errands for others.
“‘Lord here are my eyes; I want to see as you see. Here are my ears; may I listen to what you would listen to. And Lord, I give you my tongue. I ask you to control all the words formed by my tongue, that they may be words of help and healing. Lord, my brain is yours; I want to think your thoughts. Here’s my heart, Lord, Put into my heart your love and compassion for all the people I will see today.’
“Presenting the parts of my body individually to God each day is one of the best way I have found to prepare myself for the day ahead, because it reminds me I am not my own, I was bought with a price. And therefore, my body, every part of it, should be a living sacrifice all day long every day.”
“So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us, I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to God’s service and pleasing to God. This is the true worship you should offer. Romans 12.
In
Christ,
Brown
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