The Body

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.”

I’ve spent a good part of the morning praying this verse over a group of women I get the privilege of leading in worship this weekend. It’s a verse I want my life to be characterized by. A verse and chapter that’s beaten me up on numerous occasions as well. But this morning I got curious…what does it mean by “bodies?” The original Greek word, I discovered, is ‘sóma,’ which is used for the physical body, but is also used figuratively of The Body of Christ-The Church.

Oh what a whole new meaning that brings to this passage! One commentary I read explained the sacrifice being described in this passage as this, “to be as wholly the Lord’s property as the whole burnt offering was. (The atonement for sin) No part being devoted to any other use.” Now what if we applied that to The Church? Not the building you meet in, or the denomination you claim to be a part of, but the Body of Christ as a whole.

“NO part being devoted to any other use.” Simply His…ALL His. For His purpose. The moment I devote my time to things that don’t matter, give money to causes that misuse the money God has entrusted to me, and refuse to love people and have real relationships with them, because I’d rather not do what His Word commands, I am no longer living my life as a sacrifice. And therefore I am not worshipping Him the way He desires. And if we look at this passage with The Church in mind, how many parts are being devoted to other, frivolous uses? Are we feeding the poor? Are we clothing the needy? Or are we still pushing for that bigger building? Are we still missing out on real, authentic relationships with others who need to see Jesus in us because we are so afraid of “this day and age?” Just because times have changed, doesn’t mean the truth of the Gospel or Jesus Himself have. And neither has the fact that people need Christ and we need each other. Our lives, The Body of Christ must be devoted to no other use, but His. And I wonder how many times we CHOOSE other things over Him. Other things that aren’t pleasing to Him. We get wrapped up in the number of seats being filled as opposed to the number of lives being changed. Wrapped up in reputations that build our egos, all the while tearing down a dying world outside and members of the family inside.

I hope and pray that my body, who I am and hope to be, is a living sacrifice. Dying to myself daily to be used for His purpose, His glory, no matter the cost or what others say…including those in “the family.” If it began with us individually, I can’t help but think The Church as a whole would transform and become all He intended it to be: Devoted to His use, His name, and nothing else.

Be The Church,
Amanda

Can I Rant?

It’s 2:30 in the morning so I’m writing because my heart feels incredibly heavy and if I’m honest, a little wounded. No one will probably read this, but if you are, welcome to a thought process. You may never arrive at any destination or conclusion. And you may have just joined a can of worms that’s been open in my mind for quite some time.

Love is a four letter word that I can’t begin to explain, fathom, or live out in the way that it deserves. It’s the most abused word in the English language, and at the same time one of the most powerful words. I’ve found myself over the past year or so wanting to be characterized by this word. In the things I say, the motive behind things I do, and the reason why I breathe. Love is equivalent to life because for me, love is not based on a feeling. Love is not something that describes a romantic encounter, but love is my God. (1 John 4:8) Therefore love for me equals life. Without Love, there’d be no reason for Christ to endure the most gruesome of deaths. Without Love, He would see no need to save a despicable sinner like me. And without Love, I would have no reason to live. But because of Love, a sacrifice was made on my behalf that conquered death and the grave to give me life and purpose.

Call me crazy, call me young, naïve, it wouldn’t be something I haven’t heard in the last year, but there’s an aching in my heart, in the very depths of my soul to be more like Jesus in this breath than my last. To be a part of a unified body of Christ, The Church, the way He intended it to be. To know Love and be love…to every single person I encounter, whether they show love or not. When my life is over and if people gather somewhere to talk about me, I don’t want to be known for the career I had or the places I lived. There’s nothing I want more than to be known and characterized by love: Love for my Savior which resulted in an overflow of love for people. I want to be known by extraordinary love, because that’s who my God is. Everything I do should be an overflow of love because things such as: grace, forgiveness, mercy, encouragement, patience, kindness are all extensions of love.

I honestly believe loving people is the most difficult thing I will ever do. I’m no expert at it by any means and there are days I know I don’t love the way I’m supposed to or should, even days when I’m ashamed of the lack of it in my life. But there are also days that I know if I do love how I’m called to, Satan can twist it to make me believe I haven’t. And not based on how I actually love people, but based on people’s response to that love. That’s where love gets a little hazy. That’s where love is skewed to fit the mold we’ve made for it, that is far from its original design. Love is not based on someone’s response. Love is not based on mutual reciprocation. Love is love for the sake of love. I gotta read that again…Love is love simply for the sake of being love. It doesn’t put limitations or conditions on whether or not it’s given. True love in its purest form (purest form meaning: based on Christ’s example) gives even before receiving. (Romans 5:8) It gives without ever expecting love in return. So if someone responds to my love in a way that is hurtful or rejecting, I must continue to love. If Christ hasn’t stopped loving me thus far in my wretchedness, I can’t stop loving others either. I cannot love the way I’m supposed to without His example, without His direction, without Him.

I just want to be like Jesus. I just want to know Him and be changed by Him. It all boils down to love…it’s who He is, it’s who we’re called to be and it’s the way the world identifies that we belong to Him. (John 13:35) Without it, we are nothing and everything I believe in falls by the wayside. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) 

I’m Abusive

I find myself sitting on a couch in my living room talking about the movie The Help, culture and change with my mom and step-sister. Somehow our conversation has shifted to rebellious stages of life, our own and that of people we love. It’s crazy because I find my heart breaking day after day watching someone I love not get it. Watching someone playing the prodigal son role and it leaves me in tears. I have an aching to run towards them and help, but i know I can’t. And then I look at my own life and the times I run away from God when He’s clearly trying to run after me and get my attention and speak truth into my life. Or even when He uses people wiser and older than me to do the same. I sit here and think to myself, “I’ve been guilty of abusing grace…” Grace that God extends to me, grace that people I love have shown me. I’ve taken advantage of the fact that God will forgive me or people in my life will forgive me and I’ve abused their grace. It’s one thing for us to show unconditional love and unending grace, which we are called to do even when it is difficult, because that’s who Christ is. But it’s another thing when that love and grace is poured out on us and we make a mockery out of it because we have the mindset, “God always forgives, it’s who He is, so I’m ok. Oh, my best friend, or my brother, loves me no matter what, so it really isn’t a big deal.” That mindset has damaged and ruined relationships in my life. Because it’s been my mindset towards others and other’s towards me. My kindness and willingness to forgive so quickly has been taken advantage of countless times, and I don’t say that to toot my own horn. I bring it up, because it’s made me aware of when I do it to others…and I do it a lot. And if we’re honest with each other, we all do. We have those people in our lives who we know will stick by us through anything and everything. We have a God who we’ve been told and has proven will never leave us. And we justify hurting Him and them because of the love they constantly lavish on us.

All week God has been reminding me of Romans 6:1-2 “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” Yes, my God is a God who never lets go. A Savior who looks at me and says, “There’s nothing you could ever do to make me love you less.” And His amazing grace is constantly being poured over me. But when I know I’m in sin, when I know I’m not doing the things He’s asked me to do or called me to be, I can’t keep walking in that direction. We can’t keep justifying it, by using God’s grace as an excuse. It’s so very true that He will always forgive, but that doesn’t mean we don’t break His heart every time we do sin. Every time I choose to listen to me and ignore Him, I hurt Him. And that leaves a disgusting taste in my mouth because I think of all the times I have.

We have died to sin. Meaning it has no power over us any longer. Not that we live perfect lives and don’t mess up, but that it’s not our way of life any more. The life we live now, seeks to honor and glorify God in all we do and say and we look different from the rest of the world. I abuse His grace…I take advantage of His unconditional and unfathomable love because I know how quickly He’ll pick me back up, but I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want us as The Body to live like that. I want to make Him smile and obey Him simply because I love Him. I want to run away from the temptation to use the excuse, “He’ll forgive me anyway, so I can get away with this one more time.”