Tag: Romans 12:1-2

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May Thier Memory Be Eternal

Waves of Mercy pentecost-1024x493Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

Today is a very special day. It’s a day we stop and remember those we’ve loved and lost in this world. We visit and decorate their graves. We stop and pray the oldest prayer known to humanity – Lord have mercy. But, when we remember we do more than that, we actually celebrate the life they now live in eternity.

We miss our loved ones dearly. Whether they died long ago or recently, there’s still that empty feeling inside that used to be filled with their physical presence. But God, in His mercy, gives us their memory to fill our hearts, and those memories will never fade or die – they’re eternal.

The waves of God’s mercy flow not only on Memorial Day, but everyday. St. Paul tells us that as we remember God’s mercy, we need to prepare our own lives for death. We need to offer our very lives as living sacrifices to God in worship. When we live as such, then as St. Paul says in verse eight, “whether we live or die we belong to the Lord.”; this is true worship.

May today be a day of true worship as we remember all who gave their lives for our freedom; those whose lives passed far too soon, and those who lived long and full lives. May each of them inspire us to offer our lives a living sacrifice to God.

Grace and Peace,

+Pastor Brad

Prayer

Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord, and may your perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, by your mercies O God, rest in peace. Amen.

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Stop Wasting Your Mind

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

Philippians 2:5-6

“The mind is a terrible thing to waste.” That was an advertising slogan developed in 1972 for the United Negro College Fund; it’s still in use today. So, how do we not waste our minds? According to the advertisement, the experience of going to college is central to not wasting one’s mind. Many minorities were not able to attend college without the help of the UNCF, and were thereby said to be wasting their minds.

Of course, going to college can be a great experience. In a college one learns to open up the mind and challenge his or her own worldview through intellectual stimulus. While it is always worthy to stimulate our minds intellectually, I doubt that’s what St. Paul was thinking when writing the Philippians. Paul understood that faith was not just about changing our minds, but rather transforming them according to the pattern of Jesus.

In this world we are constantly being molded and shaped by something: family, friends, preaching, teaching, and world opinion. But, to be transformed in Christ we must set our pattern for thinking and learning according to the very way of Jesus Christ. In Romans 12:2, Paul said, “And do not be conformed by the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” And, in verse one he tells us the only way to such transformation is to make a living sacrifice of our lives.

Certainly we can’t adopt fully the mind of Christ as we are human and He is the divine God/Man. So, just what aspect of Jesus’ mind is the great Apostle admonishing us to adopt – His humility. If there is any attribute in Christ that He would have us to like, it is His humility. Jesus, who was God made flesh, did not come in such a way as to rule over humanity, but to serve. Then, in the power of His resurrection, He rose up to rule over all the world. And, if we will serve as He did in this world, we too shall reign with Him in the next.

Can there be a greater pathway to transforming our minds than humble service? Our serving others in true humility is only possible through the resurrection power of Christ at work in us. If you’re not actively seeking to be transformed according to the humble ways of Jesus, through daily surrender to Him, you’re not of the mind that is in Christ.

So, stop wasting your mind and remember, Christ is risen…and so are you!

Grace & Peace,

+Pastor Brad

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me by your grace to daily surrender to your transforming, resurrecting power. Let all that is in me, that is not of you, die. And, raise me up to be of the mind of your precious son, Jesus my savior. Amen. Alleluia!

Image credit: https://www.pinterest.com/sharibeckett/the-mind-of-christ/