Relationship Remix - 3 C's That Sabotage Relationships

Thursday, December 4th

In the Old testament God directed Joshua to meditate on his word day and night so that he will be sure to obey all that it says.  God was saying this to him and preparing him as he was leading the Israelites into the promised land.  God has the same expectations for us, preparing our minds and hearts to follow him and lead others around us.  When we aren’t consistently preparing our minds and hearts for the Lord we are preparing our minds to be like the world, it happens that quick.   

Our reading today is jumping further in Romans 12 where Paul is teaching us how to be a living sacrifice for God.  Read this passage, take notes as to how God is trying to get a hold of your heart, then walk in faith knowing God has gone before you just as he told Joshua as he was leading his people into the promised land!

Place Your Life Before God 
12 1-2 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. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

4-6 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. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

6-8 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 that 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 disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

11-13 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.

14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under 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.

17-19 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. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Whether you’ve read this many times or it's your first time, there should be a prompting/conviction of walking courageously in a different direction then what you have previously been walking in some way, shape or form.  Before taking that step I want to encourage you to spend time with God confessing and repenting of how you previously have been living.  This isn’t out of shame, this is out of love and respect. He desires more than anything as it says in the beginning of the passage, lay your life at his feet as an offering!

May the song Lay it all down speak to your soul!

United Pursuit - Lay It All Down - Worship Lyric Video