Worship With Everything You Have

Romans 12:1 says, to offer our bodies are a living sacrifice. Every believer has something to offer God as a sacrifice of worship. This sacrifice isn’t something morbid—rather it’s something alive and joyful; it’s an offering given out of gratefulness for His gift to us—salvation and eternal life. We no longer offer bulls and goats for sin as was custom in the Old Testament before Jesus came to live among us. He sacrificed His life for us. Our sacrifice is our heart, given freely to the One who redeemed it from the fate of spiritual death.

So, how to do we worship in this way? How does our life become a living sacrifice?

One way is to realize our life is full of choices. Every day we choose paths to follow, deeds to do, and actions to take. We will choose life or death, right or wrong—we will choose friends, make decisions, and follow paths that will either bring peace or turmoil. Choosing what honors God is what’s best, but without His help we struggle to do what is right. And, without a changed heart and transformed mind we can’t begin to know what to do.

Another way is to worship with who we are. We can take the talents, interests and gifts we have been given and either hide them, waste them or ignore them—or we can use them to touch the lives of others. If we hide them they will wither. But, if we exercise them and offer them, they will grow and flourish.

God takes us as we are, gives us a new heart and a new mind to comprehend the depth of His love, and then begins to nurture us in the right way to go.

So what does this living sacrifice idea mean to you? What do you have to offer Him?

Giving it all to Him,

Jeanne

Focus, Focus, Dominocus -- Choosing What's Best in 2012

If you’re at all like me, as soon as the New Year rolls around you start thinking about a few things:

Simplifying

De-cluttering

Planning

 After all, I have this wide open calendar I just bought. So, I begin to think, how can I focus and be a better steward of my time and resources?

Honestly, I feel like I have to ask myself that every year and I still struggle with the implementation. Most of the time I feel like the thin layer of mayo I request spread on my sandwiches. I work, shop, run errands, do laundry, write, blog, speak, keep up with my husband and home, sleep, stay in touch with my children and faraway family members…there isn’t much time to add the things I think I should do, like exercise, eat healthy, and spend more time with God…

Yep, a thin layer of mayo spread over a slice of bread. How do I make it enough? How do I make it count?

For someone who has a hard time saying no, this is a challenge. I am learning that there are things I am called to do, like be supportive to my husband and putting God first above everything else.

And, I have been made specifically to do certain things that only I can do like communicate through my words, both written and spoken, to share what God teaches me. Learning those lessons first is the hard part—

They usually hurt…like letting go, dealing with disappointments, feeling rejection, or realizing my response to situations or people were not the kindest. It’s dealing with my heart and coming up short because I am human and broken.

As much as I don’t want to make 2012 complicated, it really comes down to simplifying my focus, de-cluttering my heart and planning to start each day with God because He is the only one who can burn through the rubble to enable me to see what’s important. His focus becomes mine as I look at the world and the work I have to do through His eyes.

Maybe I will have extra mayo on that sandwich after all. How about you?

May your New Year be blessed and filled with Him,

Jeanne