Sunday, August 3, 2008

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: Romans 12:1-8

PSALM OF THE WEEK: Psalm 115

HYMN OF THE DAY: CH#609 “Take My Life” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEzbwcMG9Gc or http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/t/m/tmlalib.htm

VERSE OF THE DAY: I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 NRSV

 

This may well be my favorite scripture.  I heard an excellent sermon on this text when I was a college student and it has stuck with me ever since.  Whenever someone asks me for our church’s “list of rules about what you can and can’t do,” I just point them to this verse.  It seems to sum up the theology of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  YOU must decide how to live to the glory of God.  You, alone, have to answer to God for your choices.  Everyone else has to answer for their choices.  Since none of us is perfect, we realize that somewhere along the line each of us is going to get part of the living sacrifice wrong.  We each do the best we can.  It is not our place, therefore, to judge how someone else tries to live as a living sacrifice.  We will have different opinions about drinking, smoking, eating meat, exercising, and other aspects of our lives.  Despite that we can come together every Sunday to worship the Lord together.  Each of us seeks to be an example of putting our faith into action by how we live our life.  If we seek to condemn others who have reached a different conclusion than we have about the best way to be a living sacrifice, we miss the transformation in ourselves.  Everyone should take this verse very prayerfully and seriously.  It is too easy to just conform to this world and “do what everyone else is doing”.  God, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for us, calls us to be living our life as a holy, living sacrifice in return. What does it mean to you to be a holy, living sacrifice for God?  How are you living that out?

 

PRAYER: O Living God, let my entire life be a holy, living sacrifice to you.  May I not defile my body and my life by conforming to the way others want me to, but only live the way you want me to. Amen.

 

See you in Church Sunday,

Pastor Sandy

 

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