Today in the Word for January 21-27
Today in The Word
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
How should we think about our bodies? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Society tells us loudly and persistently that our bodies are our own property and we can do whatever we want with them as long as we don’t hurt somebody else. But Paul offers another perspective in Romans 12:1:
“Therefore, 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.”
Paul is harkening back to the Old Testament Jewish system of offering a sacrifice to the Lord as a key part of worship. The sacrifice was to be healthy and without blemish—the best of what the person had of their livestock. And we are to view our bodies similarly. God is to be pleased by our worship of him by what we do with our bodies. Our bodies are not simply at our disposal to do whatever. They are an ongoing living and holy act of worship of God.
Does that bring perspective to how we use the bodies we have been given by God?
And that’s The Word from Pastor David of Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in the Word
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Do we want to fall prey to ‘group-think’? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Paul calls to us in Romans 12:2:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
Notice the contrast between his two verbs, conform and transform. The world around us seeks to conform us to their pattern of thinking. I remember in high school in the 70’s we all demonstrated our ‘independence’ by all wearing the same awful elephant jeans with huge bell bottoms that dragged the ground. Everyone in the group called high school looked identical. The group squeezed our thinking into its mold to behave like the rest of the herd.
There are many ways the culture attempts to squeeze our thinking like that. Yet Paul calls us to transform our mind. He states in Philippians 2:5:
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
We can change the habitual way we think to think more like Jesus did. With his guidance and our effort, we can transform rather than conform. We can do more than ‘group think’. We can think like the Lord himself!
And that’s The Word from Pastor David of Deer Lodge Assembly. Join our Wednesday adult Bible Study at 6:30 for more of the Word.
Today in the Word
Thursday Jan 23, 2020
I think most people would like to do God’s will in their life. Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Paul states in Romans 12:2:
“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
God’s will for us is good and pleasing, yet we can be confused about ‘the will of God.’ We can be plagued by regrets thinking we missed the ‘will of God’ for our life by our bad actions of 20 or 30 years ago. Is that how the will of God works? Paul corrects our think on this in Philippians 5:15-17:
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Paul had done many terrible things persecuting the church—even to the killing of Christians. Yet he thinks we can do the Lord’s will. How? By making the most of every opportunity now. He was not living his life replaying the regrets of the past, and neither should we. How we live now and what we do today is the path to God’s will.
Are we going to make the most of every opportunity today or not?
And that is the Word from Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in the Word
Friday Jan 24, 2020
How should we think about ourselves? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Paul has advice for all of us in Romans 12:3:
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…”
Paul knew the tendency of many to have an inflated ego. It was true then and it is still true now. He goes further in Philippians 2:3-7:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others…have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who…did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage: rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant…”
Jesus was higher and greater than any of humankind, yet chose to humble himself and serve us. If he can relate to us with that mindset, can’t we adopt the same way of thinking and acting with each other? We can rein in our focus on ourselves and give our attention to serving others.
After all, that is what Jesus did.
And that’s the Word. You can enjoy more of the Word this Sunday at 10:45 at Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.
Today in the Word
Monday Jan 27, 2020
It is possible to think too highly of ourselves, but is it also possible to think too ‘lowly’ of ourselves too? Welcome to The Word with Pastor David. Romans 12:3 reads:
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
We aren’t to have an inflated ego, but Paul also uses the phrase, ‘sober judgment’ that is in accordance with faith. Some of us are afraid to attempt much of anything due to our weaknesses or past failures. We shrink from risk. Yet Paul says we can exercise faith in God. We can take a risk to make a difference in the lives of others because we can trust that God will help us. He can help us accomplish more than our limited talent and character would suggest. We can act in faith that God will work through our efforts.
Can that work for me, you may ask. I read here that God has distributed some of that faith to each of us. We might as well use it to make a difference in the world around us!
And that is the Word from Deer Lodge Assembly on the corner of 5th and Montana.