Dearest e-votees-
This week we will look at the assigned epistle text for this Sunday from Romans 12.
There is a call upon us to offer ourselves to God, to let God shape us, to step into the places of service for which God has gifted us with humility and sober judgment.
May we all be aware of the many blessings we have received and be a source of blessing and healing in the world.
Peace,
Karl
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1 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. 2 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. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
Have you ever fallen asleep on something with texture—a quilt, thermal top, cushion with a crease—only to awake and have that impression residing on your face? You weren’t doing much at all; you weren’t making any conscious decisions; your weren’t bothering anybody—yet you took on the shape of the things around you. Our lives can be like those face-shaping catnaps. We aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. We aren’t aware of making any conscious decisions. We are just trying to make our way and not bother those around us. And as we make our way—almost sleepwalking—we drowse off. The next thing you know the world has left its mark on us. Our words or our thoughts or our reactions have taken a shape we never intended.
God wants us to not be shaped by the world. God wants to shape us. God wants to shape our thoughts and our reactions and our words. God wants to renew our minds. God wants to transform our hearts. God wants us to grow into God’s will which is good and acceptable and perfect.
God has created each of us with gifts and abilities which all come through God’s grace. Whatever those gifts God wants us to unwrap them. God wants us to engage them and let them engage us in service in the world. We aren’t to take license and pride in what has come to us purely through the hand of a gracious God. We ought to engage the service that God has put before us with humility and sober judgment. But better to sin boldly than to drowse off again.
As we grow into serving with the gifts that God has given us we will find deep and abiding joy. We will find ourselves awake and alert and making and impression on a sleeping world. May we all serve diligently this day making impressions for God and celebrating the gifts and services of others also fashioned in God’s image and serving through God-given gifts. This isn’t only a better path, it is spiritual worship. It sustains us; blesses God; helps heal the world.
God, shape us this day. Wake us from our sleepy world-dwelling and stir us to grow in serving in the gifts you have showered into our lives. Help us know your will and have the courageous faith to live into it—all to your glory. Amen.
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