"It only takes a few brief words to enter the married life, but it will take thousands of confessions of love through word and act to live the married life. We enter the Christian life through faith in Christ and by confessing Him as Lord and Master of our lives; but it takes all the remaining days of our lives, our confessions of Him as Lord by our words and by the deeds of our lives, to live the Christian life." A. B. Kendall
For our last stop, I'm going to deviate from Robert J. Morgan's route. He would take us to Romans 10:10 which is a reiteration of our last verse, "With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, which results in salvation." That's a great verse, restating the importance of the dual actions of confession and belief in a mirror image of Romans 10:9.
I'm going to detour from Morgan to go to the last stop as I learned the Romans Road, a verse that I think ties to Kendall's quote that I used as the lead in for tonight, and a verse that explains how we are to live our lives once we have proclaimed Christ as our Lord.
Romans 12:1 "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship"
It doesn't do much to declare that Christ is the Lord of your life if you don't understand what that means, and what it means is what this verse gives us....we are to give up our physical being to the will of God. Our earthly lives, housed in these temporary tents, are to be used sacrificially for God's purposes here on earth. This is how we truly worship God in spirit.
Hear how The Message states this same verse, "So 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."
So here's the full route down the Romans Road...try to say it with me....
Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Recognition of our need for a savior.
Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." - The exchange mechanism provided by God through Jesus --- we earn death, he gives us life.
Romans 5:8, "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - God's love is not earned in any way by us and His provision of salvation is driven by His love for us.
Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." - God's simple requirement of us is to accept and believe in His plan, to acknowledge Christ as His Son, and to recognize His power in bringing Him back to life.
and now,
Romans 12:1, "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship."
In view of everything God has done for us, and as a result of our acceptance of His gift to us, what are we asked to give in return? Our lives. Does that sound severe? Not when you realize that by giving the lives that we cannot keep, we gain lives that will be established in eternity, and all due to God's amazing love for us that rescues us from an entirely opposite eternal fate.
I cannot begin to sacrifice enough to show God my true feelings of gratitude for His gift...whatever He asks, I hope that I will always respond with a quick and enthusiastic, "Yes, Lord." That's what I'm praying for tonight, the continual willingness to sacrifice without even a thought of it being sacrificial...just a small act of worship to my eternal King.
For our last stop, I'm going to deviate from Robert J. Morgan's route. He would take us to Romans 10:10 which is a reiteration of our last verse, "With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, which results in salvation." That's a great verse, restating the importance of the dual actions of confession and belief in a mirror image of Romans 10:9.
I'm going to detour from Morgan to go to the last stop as I learned the Romans Road, a verse that I think ties to Kendall's quote that I used as the lead in for tonight, and a verse that explains how we are to live our lives once we have proclaimed Christ as our Lord.
Romans 12:1 "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship"
It doesn't do much to declare that Christ is the Lord of your life if you don't understand what that means, and what it means is what this verse gives us....we are to give up our physical being to the will of God. Our earthly lives, housed in these temporary tents, are to be used sacrificially for God's purposes here on earth. This is how we truly worship God in spirit.
Hear how The Message states this same verse, "So 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."
So here's the full route down the Romans Road...try to say it with me....
Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Recognition of our need for a savior.
Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." - The exchange mechanism provided by God through Jesus --- we earn death, he gives us life.
Romans 5:8, "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - God's love is not earned in any way by us and His provision of salvation is driven by His love for us.
Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." - God's simple requirement of us is to accept and believe in His plan, to acknowledge Christ as His Son, and to recognize His power in bringing Him back to life.
and now,
Romans 12:1, "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship."
In view of everything God has done for us, and as a result of our acceptance of His gift to us, what are we asked to give in return? Our lives. Does that sound severe? Not when you realize that by giving the lives that we cannot keep, we gain lives that will be established in eternity, and all due to God's amazing love for us that rescues us from an entirely opposite eternal fate.
I cannot begin to sacrifice enough to show God my true feelings of gratitude for His gift...whatever He asks, I hope that I will always respond with a quick and enthusiastic, "Yes, Lord." That's what I'm praying for tonight, the continual willingness to sacrifice without even a thought of it being sacrificial...just a small act of worship to my eternal King.
1 comment:
We worship God in so many ways. We sing Praises at church, we listen to sermons on the teachings of God's Love, we read his Word, but best of all is our actions. Living lives of love, joy and acceptance and forgiveness. I pray for continual awareness of God's presence in my daily life. I accept the sacrifices I need to make each day. I want to show God my love for Him. Each day I challenge myself to do a better job than before. I want to spend more time, quality quiet time worshiping God my ruler and Jesus Christ my Savior.
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