verseoftheday

Bless those who persecute you - bless them, don't curse them! Romans 12:14 CJB Share with the saints in need. I'm good with that idea most days, and I think I'm improving. Pursue hospitality. Yep. Love that. Sometimes I'm out of energy for it but most days I'm good with that. But Bless those who persecute?  Love my enemies? Bless and don't curse? Today I'm struggling with this.  Those who persecute "you" - this is a letter written to a church community, so the "you" could be those persecuting others in your community. In my community. And my confession is this: I want to curse them. I have cursed them. I want to continue to curse them. Until they change. I hate their impact on people in my community. At the same time I can't walk away from what God's word is saying, so I'm praying that this energy that's going into cursing will fuel action towards justice, to fuel compassion for the persecuted. Perhaps a good step for me i...

Share with the saints in their needs;  pursue hospitality. Romans 12:13 CSB Paul is building for us a picture of who we are in Jesus, and how we should live in the light of who we are. When we read Ch12 from the top and get to this verse it just becomes a natural outworking of all that's come before.  Just take 2 minutes to read Ch12:1-13. How does this verse sit with you? For me it just feels like an obvious next thing to be doing...know how our community are, know people's needs, and help meet them.  Connect with one another over food or coffee or tea or kombucha. In my culture we don't talk about our needs.  Do you? So if we don't easily talk about our needs, to get anywhere close to what Paul wants us to do here, we're going to have to learn how to listen.  To ask. To listen. Maybe starting with hospitality will open that up...how could I pursue hospitality in the next few days? Re read Ch12:1-13  How could I pursue hospitality in the next few days?...

Rejoice in your hope,  be patient in your troubles,  and continue steadfastly in prayer. Romans12:12 CJB Continue steadfastly. Persistent. Keep going even when it's tough, when you're not seeing results. When you want to give up. Pray.  Rejoice in.  Rejoice in hope.  Be patient in. Be patient in troubles. Continue in. Continue steadfastly in prayer. Three things to do. Rejoice. Be patient. Persevere. Three realities to function in. Hope Our troubles. Prayer Note what our troubles are sandwiched between: Hope & Prayer. Gotta say my praying would not be characterised by the words persistent, persevering, or steadfast, but that is what Paul is calling me to here, in this life of hope, and troubles, and prayer, don't neglect the prayer. That is Paul's challenge to me today. #monday #Godsgym #romans #romans12 #hope #hopeiscomingforyou #pray #praypersistently

Rejoice in your hope,  be patient in your troubles,  and continue steadfastly in prayer. Romans12:12 CJB Rejoice in your hope. Be patient in your troubles. Some days I wish words like these simply were not in my Bible.  When I hear about, see in front of me, experience, trouble, loss, hurt, grief, disaster, I don't want to be patient.  I want it fixed. I want it fixed now. I want it undone. I want all that hurt to be unhurt. And now would be good. And Paul tells me to be patient. And to pray. And that leads me to one place, the Cross.  Where heaven came to earth, where evil smashed into Love, where hope is found in suffering. There what we need is. Not a place or an idea, but a person. A person who so loved us, saw such worth and good and beauty in us, in you, that he chose you, and chose the Cross. Rest in that today. #sunday #worship #thisisourGod #lovewithoutmeasure #romans #romans12 #hope #hopeiscomingforyou

Rejoice in your hope,  be patient in your troubles,  and continue steadfastly in prayer. Romans12:12 CJB Rejoice in your hope. To rejoice in something it can't be some vague idea, but needs firming up.  The Bible gives us great pictures and metaphors to help us with that, but for me to rejoice in my hope, for you to rejoice, get your picture of hope sorted. Write it down, draw it, find a song that holds it, a scene or a place that captures it. John 3:16 pictures hope as a place. Hebrews 6:19 uses an anchor, and that chapter captures hope as a  promise and a person. Jesus captured hope in stories - for an example see Luke 15. Revelation 21 paints a picture of a new and redeemed creation, and in verse 4 captures hope in the simplist and intimate way, of wiping away our tears.  When all that is hurt will be unhurt. To rejoice in your hope, capture it. Hold it. And on those days when we lose sight of that hope, trust someone to hold that hope for you.  #romans ...

Friday! Proverbs! He who follows righteousness and mercy Finds life, righteousness, and honor. Proverbs 21:21 NKJV What we follow, what we chase after, strive for, live for, what we love, has consequences. It's so good to see this couched in positive terms :) This world puts up what seems like an unlimited array of options that promise life, but this proverb encourages us to follow righteousness, and mercy/kindness which has an outward look to it, then the outcome is something really good. Proverbs was written hundreds of years before Jesus, yet this one points us directly at him. When we follow the One who is righteousness and mercy, we find life. Jesus said to love God (follow righteousness) and to love people (mercy and kindness), and in that we will find life.  How can we keep this proverb front of mind today in our choices and interactions?  Eugene Petersen put it like this: "Whoever goes hunting for what is right and kind finds life itself - glorious life!" Proverbs...

Do not lack diligence in zeal;  be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. Romans 12:11 CSB Serve the Lord. Paul does not tell us to serve the church, serve the _________, serve the ministry that we might be connected to, but to serve the Lord. Serve the Lord. The one who's yoke is easy, who's burden is light, the one who always stayed in tune with the Father's heart, the one who wasn't bothered by social conventions or what others thought of him, but loved people. Serve the Lord. The one who washed feet, the one who gave himself for us. It's so easy to lose sight of him in the noise and distractions and the demands of the world that we live in. To lose sight of him in the clamour of my own heart for recognition or reward. When I forget that I am serving the Lord, that's when things so easily and quickly get out of balance. Let's not lose sight today of who it is we serve :) #romans #romans12 #servetheLord #coramdeo

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Romans 12:10 NLT This letter Paul wrote is to a church. I wonder how his gentle words sit with me in my church, where I only sit with people I know, where I walk past a stranger, where I honour the speaker or the bass player... Paul is gently asking me to look at my heart. To love with genuine affection is a heart thing, that finds its expression on my face, in my touch, in my words, and in my actions towards others. Genuine affection must have an expression. We're not great at honouring. It's either over-the-top honouring of a leader or upfront person, or zero. I wonder what honouring one another could look like if Paul was writing to me and my church? Maybe it would be honouring to you if I ensured that church felt safe for you. That I made you feel welcome. That unless you want to, you aren't sitting on your own. That I really am interested in you, glad that you're here. How could I do t...

Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9 CSB This seems easy, one of those verses that we read and go "yep got that". But there is work, challenge, and hope here. Enough to keep us busy for a lifetime. Work in God's gym to make my love for God and for others to be without any hypocrisy. Without any faking it.  To love like Jesus. Seems I've still got a way to go. To detest evil means more than not liking it, not agreeing, but taking a stand, taking action, both against the evil I find bubbling up out of my own heart, and in the world around me.  Cling to what is good. This word cling is used in a medical sense to bind up a wound...it's like stitching ourselves to Good so that we become one, joined, inseperable.  Become inseperable with good.  What is truly good has its source in the only One who is Good.  Become inseperable with Him. Can you feel the hope here? Every stitch that joins us, every day that we become bound to H...

Don't let love be a mere outward show. Romans 12:9 CJB The Greek words here are "agape" for love and "anupokritos" or unhypocritical, unfeigned. Not fake. Not just something we do on the outside. Love is not our job. It's not what we do. It's who we are. This passage is framed in Grace, and grace acknowledges that we're not there yet, and sometimes loving with hypocrisy is the best we have. Or is that just me? Am I willing to allow God's love for me to continue to shape me, nudge me, challenge me, teach me, to move in this direction, to love without hypocrisy, to love without measure? Tbh some days I simply don't want that to happen.  My heart is selfish.  And God is patient and full of Grace, as He quietly shapes my stubborn, rebellious, selfish heart towards reflecting his. This is tough work even for our God! The original words of Paul's seem to be the simplest: Let love be unfake. It's both a goal and a direction as we walk each o...

According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts:  If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith; if service, use it in service;  if teaching, in teaching;  if exhorting, in exhortation;  giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:6-8 CSB This is a long list of things, but think for a minute not about the "what", but about the "how" they are expressed. Use it. Use it. Use it. If you have a gift, use it.  Find a way, a place, an expression of the things our God has placed in you, how He made you.  Use it with. Give with Lead with Show mercy with What would your "with" be? If my gift was to sing, my with might be to sing with power. Or passion. Or as an offering to God. To draw, with detail, with intricacy. To paint with feeling. To encourage with kindness. To write with clarity  To work with honesty To teach with the future of my student in mind To nurse with care To build wi...

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it... Romans 12:4-8 CSB Paul is writing to the church, to people just like us.  He uses this picture of a body to represent us. Joined, interconnected, different, yet one. And then says that we all have something to contribute to the way the body functions and works, what it does. This interconnectedness is often in contrast to the big messages of the culture that I live in, where it's all about the individual. Me. Paul is reminding us that we weren't meant for "me" living, but for "us" living. Where we contribute for "us". If Paul was writing to my church today I wonder what he would write about this interconnectedness? I think he would still use these words: Grace One another All Gifts Use...

Friday! Proverbs! Precious treasure and oil are in the dwelling of a wise person,  but a fool consumes them. Proverbs 21:20 CSB The fool cannot see the value that is right there in front of them.  The fool doesn't recognise treasure, doesn't value "oil". This word can be oil or fat for cooking, but also for annointing. How often do I sit with someone and not see the treasure there? How often do I walk past, drive past, rush past, beauty? How often do I miss a blessing because being busy is seen as important? The word "dwelling" here carries the meaning of the abode of the shepherd.  How often do I just consume or devour God's goodness and miss that I'm in the dwelling of the Good Shepherd? Lord help me to slow down sometime today, help me to see the treasures in front of me, and not devour them,  but honour them. Help me to see beauty today and recognise the hand of the Creator. Help me to shape my dwelling as a place that the Good Shepherd is found....

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God... For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you...  According to the grace given to us, we have... Romans 12:3, 6 CSB Grace. Paul reminds us of the source of grace, speaks to us from a place of grace, and wants us to live in grace, to operate, to live in the world from that place of grace. Grace.  The source of Grace is God.  His mercy. His choice. His love. I can't earn it.  Just receive it. Because I can't earn it, it never was or will be about my performance, there's a freedom there. Freedom from pride, freedom from about what I have or can do. And at the same time there's an inclusion, a belonging, a wrapping in because of who I am. A child of God. Seen. Known. Chosen. Adopted. Loved. This Grace is mine, this Grace is yours because of our identity, who we are. And as Paul shows here it forms our identity.  Know God's grace. When we speak, speak from that place of grace. And live. Live ...

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Romans 12:4-5 CSB Our cat is sick.  As in has cancer. Her name is Poppie and she's been part of our family for more than 12 years, she's interacted with lots of people who have been at our place, been loved, and she's responded sometimes with affection, with disdain, and sometimes she'll just bite you. But now that she is sick, she's no less valued.  Maybe as she is sick I value her differently, she affects my heart in a way that didn't happen when she was well. Paul uses the body as a picture of how we are as people. We're connected. Interconnected. We need one another, way more than I need my cat. This verse is couched in the challenge of V2 not to be caught up in the ideas of our culture, a culture which decides who is more valuable.  Paul gives a counter cultural view, and ...

For by the grace given to me,  I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think.  Instead,  think sensibly,  as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.  Now as we have many parts in one body... Romans 12:3-4 CSB Paul is telling people to be humble in the way they see themselves, telling us that. It's a tricky thing to do while being humble! He manages to do that by starting with the grace that's been extended to himself. He must meet people who he persecuted, or family members, reminders of the grace he has received.  And he bookends this with placing us in the body, that we're part of everyone else. There's no room for pride when we need one another, when were joined to one another.  This week I am in the classroom with people 1/3 of my age, being taught by people 1/2 my age...but we're part of the body, some exercising their teaching gifts, the rest of us learning.  When I see myself as part of a bod...

Then the Jews were amazed and said,  "How is this man so learned, since he hasn't been trained?" Jesus answered them, "My teaching isn't mine but is from the one who sent me." John 7:15-16 CSB The questions that the people had about Jesus reflected what they were expecting in a teacher. They get trained by someone, then they come and teach and our world makes sense. But Jesus isn't like that. He essentially says "you're asking the wrong questions, you're not seeing me for who I am. I'm just like you, but I'm not from around here". Take it up a level. I've been sent here. There's something bigger, way bigger going on than another clever and learned teacher showing up. Where Jesus came from, who sent him, what his mission is, that's what he was pointing to...some days we have to lift our gaze too. Lift our sight from what Jesus would have us do today, or what we'd love him to fix, or what we want to hear from him, ...

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body.  Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body.  Romans 12:4 MSG Have you ever noticed what happens when you have an injury to one part of your body, another part compensates in some way? Works harder or works differently? Have you ever noticed that when a part of you is hurt other parts work to protect that hurt part? Paul uses the image of a body to help us think about one another. A body doesn't come together and then seperate. Who we are as Christians is not just a gathering on Sunday morning, it's much more than that (or maybe completly different to that). A body protects the hurt and compensates for the injured. It slows down and waits  Just like Jesus did. Slowed down.  Waits for us. That's what love does. Jesus said "follow me". Pau...

Do not be conformed to this age... Romans 12:2 CSB Do not conform to the pattern of this world... Romans 12:2 NIV Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world... Romans 12:2 NLT Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Romans 12:2 MSG What are the ideas of this age, the patterns of this world, the behaviour and customs, the culture that we just fit into without even thinking? Some of the norms of where happiness is found, what success looks like, what whanau looks like, what church is, what's important. Paul is asking us here to step back and examine what or who is driving our life and telling us to be careful that it's not the dominant ideas of this age. In verse 1 Paul asks us to position ourselves first and foremost in relation to God, our God who bent down and stepped into his creation, who's love brought him close, so close that he gave himself for us.  Ridiculous, reckless, love. Ridiculous, reckless love ...

Friday! Proverbs! Better to dwell in the wilderness,  Than with a contentious and angry woman. Proverbs 21:19 NKJV If you read this proverb in other versions instead of angry they use nagging, hot-tempered, or complaining. Yet this word in the proverb "ka'ac" is anger and it carries 3 meanings: Anger caused by unmerited treatment. Anger of God when we worship other Gods. And grief. As we sit with those meanings we start to see a person, a woman, who has reasons why they are  angry and upset. An injured person. A hurt person. A grieving person. And if we start there, maybe the other person in the proverb, the one heading to the wilderness, just maybe they're at fault here. Separation. Space. Space for the injured party. Space for the one in the wilderness to consider their part. "Better". Who is it better for? "Wilderness". Consider the wilderness story, Jesus in the wilderness... This proverb is not a weapon or a joke to be used at wedding receptio...

Therefore, brothers and sisters,  in view of the mercies of God,  I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Romans 12:1 CSB "holy and pleasing to God" Try as I might, I will always come up short here.  This is the language of the temple, of the priest who has followed all the purification processes, who is bringing the perfect offering, who faces death if they come up short in any way...but here it is the language of Grace. Grace that makes my offering perfect. Grace that fills the gap. Grace that brings us face to face with Life. Before the throne of God above I have a strong, a perfect plea; A great High Priest, whose Name is Love, Who ever lives and pleads for me. Grace takes the heat off to be perfect, allows us to see the corruptions, the wrong motivations, the poor choices, not as something to condemn ourselves with, but places where we can let God's Sprit work. As crazy as it seems to write t...

Therefore, brothers and sisters,  in view of the mercies of God,  I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Romans 12:1 CSB What we do with our bodies matters.  Worship here is defined as what we do. There is no mention of a building, a church service, just our bodies ("soma") and what we do with them. Paul uses the language of sacrifice, but it's not a sacrifice that has death as it's mode, but life. This seems to be about how we live. Our physical life is the exhibit (the word "present" carries that meaning of presenting something or exhibiting something) of our worship. Worship is our vertical relationship with God, worked out in the horizontal relationship with our world and the people in it. Love God Love people The way I live, the way I love, in the world should reflect the way that I love God. It's more than an intellectual thing, more than a spirit thing, there's a physical ...

Therefore, brothers and sisters,  in view of the mercies of God,  I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Romans 12:1 CSB Paul is writing to "us", not to "me". This transforming of our minds, this understanding who God is and his love for us, this worship of Him, is an "us" thing.  It happens in community. It's worked out in community. Together. So much of the culture around me is you've got to do all this yourself, figure it out yourself. It's all about the individual. That's a lot for each of us to bear.  When we lived in PNG the culture almost seemed to lose the person in the group. Jesus summed things up with Love God, love people. These two things go hand in hand, they get worked out in community. Together. Paul is encouraging "us".  Yes who I am matters, and understanding God, worship, and change, happens with "us". Seeking community, resting in...

Therefore,  brothers and sisters,  in view of the mercies of God... Romans 12:1 CSB Therefore points us back to Ch11, but also to the rest of Paul's letter and prompts us to ask those big questions... Who is God? What are his mercies? For his invisible attributes, that is,  his eternal power  and divine nature,  have been clearly seen since the creation of the world,  being understood through what he has made... Romans 1:20 CSB Take a look around today at the created world and overlay this verse. What does what you see and touch and smell and taste and hear of the created world tell us about the creator? If your world is a long way from the beauty and design of our world & is dominated by machines or things that people have made, then just breathe. Drink a glass of water. Eat. And consider the One who breathed life into us, who describes himself as the water of life, the bread of life, to get us thinking about who He Is. Take a moment to breathe. Breath...

Therefore, brothers and sisters,  in view of the mercies of God,  I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.  Do not be conformed to this age,  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,  so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2 CSB Yesterday I was at a workshop on self injury, and one of the things that stuck with me was that even when patterns and actions seem stuck, that there is hope that things can change.  Change is possible. In the middle of this passage is the word "transformed".  It is "metamorphoo" where we get our word metamorphosis.  To change, to transform, to transfigure. Change is possible. Paul writes of this as an integration of faith, of our choices and actions, our worship, and our minds. He also challenges us to consider where our patterns have come from, what we've been conformed to. There's a lot in...

The wicked are a ransom for the righteous,  and the treacherous, for the upright. Proverbs 21:18 CSB Jesus flips this proverb just like he flipped the tables in the temple...he was the righteous who paid the ransom for the criminal. He is the upright one. And me, I am the treacherous. Jesus brings in the upsidedown kingdom, where power is not accrued and collected used against others, but is given away. And Jesus pays the ransom.  It wasn't justice for him, but it is for me, because it wasn't just an Exodus 30 token payment, but he gave his life. The only one who could, chose to. And now, I, you, we, get to live in the freedom on the other side. And we too get to join with Jesus and in some way, pay the ransom for others too...that's what love does. #thereisaredeemer #theransomispaid #lovewins

Friday! Proverbs! The wicked are a ransom for the righteous,  and the treacherous, for the upright. Proverbs 21:18 CSB Exodus 30 describes the payment of a ransom for a life. Job 33:24 is about paying the ransom for a life. Who is paying here? The wicked, the criminal, the one who has offended against the righteous, the innocent.  This is about justice for the innocent. And it's about a life. This ransom is not a fine or penalty for a property crime, like someone has stolen your car, but when someone has stolen your life. And yet you're still living. Some of you know what that is like. Sexual abuse was part of my childhood story. Life that is stolen while you're still living. This proverb says the abuser should pay the ransom, pay to redeem what has been stolen. That doesn't seem to happen very often. But there is a Redeemer, one who was treated as a criminal though completely righteous, who knows what it is to have his life stolen while innocent. And he has already pai...

He will sit enthroned forever before [the face of] God;  Appoint lovingkindness and truth  to watch over  and preserve him. Psalms 61:7 AMP The last part of this song takes a change in direction, not sure if he is writing about himself as king, or looking forward to Jesus...but this phrase "appoint lovingkindness and truth to watch over and preserve..." Watching over something, someone, keeping them safe.  Preserving them. Don't you want soldiers for that? David says appoint lovingkindness. Appoint truth. This is our God.  His character is lovingkindness & truth. This is not some passive nice feeling, but God's lovingkindness & truth brought Jesus to dwell among us, to become the way for us. To fight for us. To fight for us by giving himself. And he calls us to follow him, to be lovingkindness & truth in this world, the kind of lovingkindness & truth that fights for others, that preserves, that keeps people safe. Lovingkindness and Truth have bee...

For you have been a refuge for me,  a tower of strength in the face of the foe.  I will live in your tent forever and find refuge in the shelter of your wings. (Selah)  For you,  God,  have heard my vows;  you have given me the heritage  of those  who fear your name. Psalm 61:4-6 CJB In the middle of whatever is going on in by his life David looks back and recalls God being at work - how often do I forget that? He looks forward with hope, with trust in the power and goodness of God's sheltering wings. And right now, he knows that he already has a heritage... the New Testament explodes this concept of heritage as Children of God, as heirs to an inheritance sealed by the Spirit, something we already have when we believe in and on Jesus.  For David it was his vow, his promises before a holy God, remembering His faithfulness, holding on to hope. For us it's faith.  Not relying on our promises, our vows, but relying on Jesus, his life, death ...

From the end of the earth,  with fainting heart,  I call out to you.  Set me down on a rock far above where I am now.  For you have been a refuge for me,  a tower of strength in the face of the foe.  I will live in your tent forever and find refuge in the shelter of your wings. (Selah) Psalm 61:3-5 CJB The psalmist has a future hope, a dwelling place that is forever, a dwelling place that is safe, the picture of a small bird sheltered from the elements, safe from predators, under the wings of our God. This song recognises and remembers how God has worked in his life in the past. We can often look back and see God's hand at work. Hold on to that.  Because right now, the writer wants help. Struggling. When we're struggling, our strength is waning, when we need refuge, we can do the 3 things David writes about here: 1. hold onto our future hope. 2. recall how God has worked in the past. 3. cry out to Him. Ask Him to shift something. While the picture is a...

Psalm 61:1-4 A paraphrase: Lord, here I am again. I'm feeling lost. Adrift. Alone. I believe in you, but sometimes I just feel so far away from you. I am so tired. My heart is weary My head is full I can't see the way out I don't know if I'm cut out for this life, this place I find myself. Will you lead me? Show me the next step? I need your perspective. I need rescue. I know that one day  All will be made new One day I will see you  Face to face That I will know true refuge True peace And that peace will never end. That I will have complete safety And it will never be threatened Until then I ask Lord that you would hold me  In a place that is higher than I Contain me in your grace Hold me in your love. #psalm61 #writeyourown #writeyourownpsalm