I just finished doing the homework for my small group lesson tonight and I am left feeling convicted, uncomfortable, yet excited about the way God spoke to me through the lesson. The very first chapter of the book was all about being used by God. Ironic too because that was exactly what the pastor spoke on this morning too.
Romans 12:1-2 "1So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." The Message
I read this in about 4 different versions because I have heard these verses my entire life and I wanted them to speak to me in a new way and they did!
God wants to use us to transform the world through his church. And I'm not doing my part in that.
In the book I read it said "Serving God is not a bed of roses. You take your hits, the shine comes off, and you have to replace parts here and there. Sometimes it's a hurtful thing. But it beats spending your life never experiencing what you were built to do." WOW..... this life of presenting yourself as a living sacrifice to God isn't easy. It is uncomfortable. It means getting rid of your own selfish desires and ambitions. It isn't for the faint of heart. But it sure beats not ever experiencing life the way God intended for us. He came that we would have life and have it FULLY! (John 10:10)
I want to have a full life. The kind that God intended for me to have and I really don't want to cheat myself out of living a life like that.
"If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full." -John Piper
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment