Do you honor Jesus?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.
(Romans 12:1 (NIV))

Paul is known for encouraging the Body of Christ in addition to spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles. In this passage, we see sound advise even for today.

Think about these words from Paul.

Do you profess that Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior?

We all think of Jesus as our salvation, as our Savior, but do we truly think of Jesus as our Lord? If we truly have turned over lordship of our lives to Jesus, then our bodies, our very lives, are no longer ours. If you were asked to baby-sit, would you treat the child badly? Would you give the child things that were bad for it’s health? Would you put the child in danger?

For the people who have asked Jesus to be their Lord, we are only custodians, caretakers, of our bodies. In essence, we are baby-sitting our bodies. We are to treat them as if they belonged to Jesus. Would you commit sinful behavior? Would you allow Jesus to be compromised and endangered?

We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices in response to and in honor of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us!

Do you honor Jesus?

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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How are we doing?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
(Ephesians 6:12 (NIV))

Who do you get angry at when you see the state of the world?

Do you get angry at those who mock Jesus?

Do you get angry at those who try to take away your way of life?

Do you get angry with those who try to kill you because of your faith?

Where do you think that these people got the ideas from? Did they just come to them one day, or were they planted by the enemy and slowly matured by the enemy until they had lost all signs of anything righteous in their lives?

I honestly believe that these people have been lied to! In fact, I know that the they have been deceived.

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
(Titus 3:3-7 (NIV))

Did you catch that?

At one time in our lives, we, as members of the Body of Christ, were just like those who are currently deceived. Our battle is not with the deceived, but with the deceiver. We must pray for those who are deceived. We must pray that their hearts will be opened to what Jesus offers. We must pray that they will be able to break the bondage placed upon them by the deceiver. We must be willing to go into battle with our Lord and Savior and confront the deceiver, the powers of this dark world. We must be willing to see those who are lost in the clutches of the enemy as Jesus sees them. Do you see them as the source of the problem or do you see them as pawns in Satan’s grand scheme?

Don’t be too fast to judge. In fact, we are not called to judge. We are called to bring them to repentance. To use the terminology of warfare, we do not want to inflict casualties, for that would mean that someone has been lost to all eternity. We want to take prisoners! We want to make converts! We want to get as many as possible to switch sides in this battle.

How are we doing?

Copyright 1998 – 2014 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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