Place Your Life before God

When wondering what to do next? Seeking G.O.D.

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. Romans 12:1 in The Message Translation

I don't know how many times I have said, "I just wish someone would tell me what to do.” I don't know how many times I have sat across from someone else who has voiced those same words. Perhaps Paul wrote these words to the community in Rome not only for them but also for himself when he may have been struggling also with wondering what he should do and how he should show up in this world.

 In 2003,  at a crossroads, I read the 12th chapter of Romans in the Message translation and reread it, and read it again.

I think I may have even written some of those directions in my journal as bullet points:

• Place your life before God as an offering

• Embrace what God does for you

• Don't become so well adjusted to your culture

• Fix your attention on God

• Readily recognize what God wants from you and quickly respond to it

• If you preach, just preach God’s message nothing else

• If you help just help

• Don’t take over

• If you teach stick to your teaching

• If you give encouraging guidance, be careful you don't get bossy

• If you're put in charge, don't manipulate

• If you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond

• If you work with the disadvantage, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them

• Keep a smile on your face

• Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it

• Run for dear life from evil; hold on to dear life to good

• Be good friends who love deep deeply; practice playing 2nd fiddle

• Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame

• Be alert servants of the master, cheerfully expectant 

• Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder

• Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality

• Bless your enemies; no cursing into your breath

• Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down

• Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up.

• Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody

• Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone

• If you've got it in you get along with everybody

• Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do

• If you see your enemy, hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink

• Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good

It didn't solve all my problems and it did point me in a different direction. At that time I learned to really take to heart the directions included in the serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

As we come to the end of the summer and the preaching series of deepening our relationship with God, our relationships with one another and our relationship with ourselves, I invite you to take to heart and consider these words from Paul to the church in Rome. They're also a few other songs that came to mind this past week in our early morning Bible study and I've included here. I knew this song from the Coca Cola commercial. And the phrase from this song, “the darkness has a hunger that is insatiable and lightness has a call that's hard to hear” often resonate for me when I am wondering; "What then should I do?”. 

The Dignity Index  is another resource for when one is wondering; how shall I show up in this world. In the gospel reading for this Sunday Matthew 16 Jesus asks his disciples -who do people say that Jesus is? Peter’s answer is  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” As the story of Jesus and his friends and followers continues we will hear how not only do they proclaim that, we read how they will live that out. They will model moments of brilliance and clay feet.

Similar to the early Christians in Rome, to whom Paul wrote there are divisions and disagreements, moments of deep connection and common purpose among the disciples and the early followers of Jesus. Perhaps Paul had heard rumblings of those who were asking, “what should we do?”.