Scarificial Thanks

Amen to the words below!

A cry for help to truly get what the author of this little devotional is tryong to say and how I can then go out and make a difference in this world.

One thing I know for sure, even though I am not young, I don't want, am not looking for, or have any desire to participate in going someplace that is putting on a show or having to have a coffee time to be a part of something or to bring people in.

You will waste my time and I don't have time to waste. What I am looking for; no, what I need is a place and a people who will teach me about this family I have been adopted into and show me why I need to care about others rather than my own life.

I need someone to show me it is goingto be okay and the help me through my life storms. Someone who will stand by me as the tears fall and the waves of uncertainty threated to over take me.

What I need is someone to show me the importance of praising in the good time's but more importantly praising in the bad and how those are times when I show the devil and those around me just how strong I am.

And thank heavens I know just the right person who will do just that and His name is the Holy Spirit. He will lead me and guide me in the way's of my Father who already knows what I need but I can't put into word's.

Thank heaven's for a Savior who has already paid my bill and made a way for the light of His love to shine through and doesn't condemn me when I waver just a little bit but will pull me back to Him and all He ask od me is to love and to praise Him with every beat of my heart.

So yeah, I think I can do this sacrificial praise thing. The benefits outweigh anything I could think or imagine.

God Bless.

Sacrificial Thanks

Scripture Reading: Romans 12:1-3 I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. - Romans 12:1

Statistics show that in North America church attendance is shrinking, especially among young people. It’s hard to know what to make of this trend, but some churches have tried to respond by adding a “cool” factor to their worship—cool music, cool pastor, cool worship space, cool coffee bar. Further studies have shown, though, that “cool” is not what young people are actually looking for in a church. Instead, they are seeking authenticity in their leaders and a cause worth staking their lives on. Paul proclaims that there is something worth sacrificing everything for: it’s called God’s mercy.

And yet God’s mercy cannot be bought through any sacrifice we make. It’s God’s gift to us, offered freely in Christ. And Paul explains that when we look and see God’s mercy in our lives, our response will be gratitude. The authors of the Heidelberg Catechism wrote, “Christ, having redeemed us by his blood, is also restoring us by his Spirit into his image, so that with our whole lives we may show that we are thankful to God for his benefits” (Q&A 86). Living gratefully isn’t your work alone. Christ is at work in you, opening your eyes to God’s mercy and prompting you to stake your life on a cause with eternal benefits. How will you be a living sacrifice today? Prayer: Lord, help me to be ever grateful for your mercy and to offer my life as a sacrifice to you. Amen.

Ruth Boven https://today.reframemedia.com/devotionals/sacrificial-thanks#noredirect