Romans 12 (English Standard Version)
A Living Sacrifice
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Gifts of Grace
3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Marks of the True Christian
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." 20To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Lessons learned this week
This week I learned that...
...God is in control, no matter what and under every circumstance. I learned the value of Romans 8:28 this week and also the truth to what Joseph said (a loose paraphrase) to his brothers "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." I meant to be spiteful in sending that email over the weekened to a guy (not the guy I'm talking to). I don't regret sending the email but the motive was spiteful. God apparently had other plans.
... Unconditional forgiveness, though very difficult, is completely and entirely humbling. Never mind that is is amazingly FREE. We will never be God and cast out the memory of the misdeeds, but we are called to forgive as Christ forgave us. Unconditional forgiveness means... you should never use past misdeeds against the other again.
... that you CAN pick up where you left off with someone who hurt you after you clear the air and clarify things. But choose the words carefully. PRAY before you start the forgiveness process or it will not work.
...God is in control, no matter what and under every circumstance. I learned the value of Romans 8:28 this week and also the truth to what Joseph said (a loose paraphrase) to his brothers "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." I meant to be spiteful in sending that email over the weekened to a guy (not the guy I'm talking to). I don't regret sending the email but the motive was spiteful. God apparently had other plans.
... Unconditional forgiveness, though very difficult, is completely and entirely humbling. Never mind that is is amazingly FREE. We will never be God and cast out the memory of the misdeeds, but we are called to forgive as Christ forgave us. Unconditional forgiveness means... you should never use past misdeeds against the other again.
... that you CAN pick up where you left off with someone who hurt you after you clear the air and clarify things. But choose the words carefully. PRAY before you start the forgiveness process or it will not work.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Verse of the day
The verse of the day is Matthew 18: 21-22.
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
I had the wonderful experience this weekend to come face to face with a few people who have hurt me badly... some not so long ago, in the past year. Two had the same reaction of not talking to them, but two totally different reactions inwardly. The third? Well, I learned something this weekend.
Saturday I went to IHOP with my parents and niece. Almost as we were getting our check, in walked a woman who emotionally bruised me about 6 years ago.... pre-ZC Sterling. It was in a restaurant and I didn't go up to her. I know I should have, just to see her reaction and see if she's really that scary or just my perception from before. I have no ill feelings towards her, other than the times her sayings haunt me. Well, ok... I did joke with someone and say I had an early Halloween present by seeing the woman. ha ha Sunday, I went to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Aside from the traffic, what I didn't talk about was I had a sighting of some others that hurt me... in the last year, They were there. Not NEARLY as drastic as what this woman did, but still left a bad taste in my mouth. Again, I didn't say anything to them, but I know I failed. As soon as I saw them, my blood boiled.
Last night on the way home from work, I was listening to KWAVE and Raul Reis was on preaching Matthew 18. He started talking about how impossible it is to forgive others, in our flesh and how we need to repent and give EVERYTHING to God when you say you forgive someone. That 70x7 is 490 times and that this is a lot and stuff. Ok, major conviction because I haven't forgiven these people completely (from the Sunday sighting). My heart was so heavy. In the car, right then and there, I gave it up to God. If I was going to Compass to help with the food, I know I'd see them tonight and I'd probably even say more than hello to them.
Here's the ironic (for lack of better term) part.
I met this guy in May. After about a month, he asked for a clean break. No dating, no friendship, nothing. I could understand the no dating part... I didn't want to pursue anything more than friendship at that point either. I called three times that week asking for him to explain [ok, call me a chicken -- I called when I knew he'd be in class and wouldn't answer!]... and even said something to the effect of "You'll regret walking away from this friendship." His reasons just didn't make sense. But I got no response. It still took me 2 months before I deleted his number from my cell phone but I still kept his email address. Well, this weekend I sent him an email along with a bunch of other people who were blind copied (which I had done a few times since May) and attached a current picture and a brief current events email talking about work, church and other stuff. I received an email this morning from the guy. It said, "I sent you a text message a while back, I don't know if you received it or not. In case you didn't, I wanted to know if you still wanted to be friends. If you do contact me. If not, well, I understand." I didn't know we "were" friends, first of all. But uhm, can you say "Answer to prayer??" All along, despite random times of minor anger (after the initial anger went away), I was praying for him. Never expecting an answer, but at the same time knowing praying for him was right. And that is the one of the first things I told him and the background.
He and I will be reconciling… it will be a slow process but one that will be blessed by God because God calls for His children to get along.
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
I had the wonderful experience this weekend to come face to face with a few people who have hurt me badly... some not so long ago, in the past year. Two had the same reaction of not talking to them, but two totally different reactions inwardly. The third? Well, I learned something this weekend.
Saturday I went to IHOP with my parents and niece. Almost as we were getting our check, in walked a woman who emotionally bruised me about 6 years ago.... pre-ZC Sterling. It was in a restaurant and I didn't go up to her. I know I should have, just to see her reaction and see if she's really that scary or just my perception from before. I have no ill feelings towards her, other than the times her sayings haunt me. Well, ok... I did joke with someone and say I had an early Halloween present by seeing the woman. ha ha Sunday, I went to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Aside from the traffic, what I didn't talk about was I had a sighting of some others that hurt me... in the last year, They were there. Not NEARLY as drastic as what this woman did, but still left a bad taste in my mouth. Again, I didn't say anything to them, but I know I failed. As soon as I saw them, my blood boiled.
Last night on the way home from work, I was listening to KWAVE and Raul Reis was on preaching Matthew 18. He started talking about how impossible it is to forgive others, in our flesh and how we need to repent and give EVERYTHING to God when you say you forgive someone. That 70x7 is 490 times and that this is a lot and stuff. Ok, major conviction because I haven't forgiven these people completely (from the Sunday sighting). My heart was so heavy. In the car, right then and there, I gave it up to God. If I was going to Compass to help with the food, I know I'd see them tonight and I'd probably even say more than hello to them.
Here's the ironic (for lack of better term) part.
I met this guy in May. After about a month, he asked for a clean break. No dating, no friendship, nothing. I could understand the no dating part... I didn't want to pursue anything more than friendship at that point either. I called three times that week asking for him to explain [ok, call me a chicken -- I called when I knew he'd be in class and wouldn't answer!]... and even said something to the effect of "You'll regret walking away from this friendship." His reasons just didn't make sense. But I got no response. It still took me 2 months before I deleted his number from my cell phone but I still kept his email address. Well, this weekend I sent him an email along with a bunch of other people who were blind copied (which I had done a few times since May) and attached a current picture and a brief current events email talking about work, church and other stuff. I received an email this morning from the guy. It said, "I sent you a text message a while back, I don't know if you received it or not. In case you didn't, I wanted to know if you still wanted to be friends. If you do contact me. If not, well, I understand." I didn't know we "were" friends, first of all. But uhm, can you say "Answer to prayer??" All along, despite random times of minor anger (after the initial anger went away), I was praying for him. Never expecting an answer, but at the same time knowing praying for him was right. And that is the one of the first things I told him and the background.
He and I will be reconciling… it will be a slow process but one that will be blessed by God because God calls for His children to get along.
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