Romans 12:15

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. When you are at Master Club competition and you and your friend are in the same category competing, there can be jealousy. What if your friend gets a better score than you do? What if they win first place and you just get second place? But then how do you feel if you get first place and they only get second place? Our verse has the answer to these difficult situations. When they win, we should be glad for them; but when they lose, we should feel sorry for them. We need to stop and ask ourselves, “How would I feel if I were in their place?” Be happy for them or be understanding with them if they are sad. That is the Christian way.

Romans 12:10

Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Do you practice good manners? I hope that you do! Do you say please and thank you? Do you hold the door open for an old person like Granddaddy? I hope that you do! Our verse says that we should prefer one another. We should let the other person go first. But the first of our verse tells us why we should be kind towards others. It says that we should love one another. Manners are things that we should do, but love is something that we just like to do. We are kind because we love the person; not because we have to be kind. If we can develop an attitude of love, the manners will come easy. Let’s be kind towards others – even our brother and sister!

Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Our verse has two great verbs in it. Do you remember from English class what a verb is? A verb is a word that shows action or helps to make a statement. The first action word tells us what not to do. We should not be conformed to this world. Conformed is what we do with a ball of Play Dough. We smush it up and shape it any way that we want to. And that is exactly what the world is wanting to do with us. They want to drag us down to their sinful level. But we belong to the perfect God in heaven! We have to behave as His dear children. Then the second verb says that we should be transformed. Do you know those transformer cars. They change from a car into a soldier or an airplane or something else. Actually the word transform in the original language of Greek means metamorphosis. That is the same verb that is used when an ugly caterpillar changes in a cocoon into a beautiful butterfly. That is what God is wanting to do with us! He wants to change us – to transform us – from an ugly sinner into a saint of His own! God wants to metamorphosis us! By changing our minds, God can transform us into something totally different; something that will be a blessing to God and to everyone else!

Romans 12:1

Romans 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. I heard a preacher say many years ago, “When you see a therefore in a Bible verse, atop and see what it is there for”. Yesterday we learned in Romans 11:33 that God is extremely wise. Our verse for today says that because God is wise – therefore – we should present ourselves to serve this all-wise God. Because this wise God has not given us the punishment that we deserve, we should be grateful and serve Him. And finally, because God has been so good to us, we should serve Him out of love and gratefulness. This is only reasonable that we should serve Him. If someone gave you a million dollars, and then they asked you to go over to their house and feed their cat while they were away on vacation, would you do it! Of course you would! They had given you such a wonderful gift that the little request to feed their cat would be nothing by comparison. That is the way it is with God. He has done so much for us that it is only reasonable for us to give Him ourselves in return. We should be grateful and serve God – gladly! By the way, Happy Birthday, Becky!

Romans 12:19

Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Two days ago we talked about Holy Joe and how he returned good for the evil that was done to him. Our verse for today tells us the reason why. We do not have to get even with someone and take care of ourselves. And the reason is, that there is an all-knowing God in heaven Who sees all and knows all. When someone is mean to us, God sees it and God remembers it. When we are kind back to the mean person, God sees that too and God remembers it too. We don’t have to get even with people because God is the One who will get even for us. God sees all and knows all and will eventually repay good and repay evil. Someday God will reveal everything that is now hidden. Let God take us!

Romans 11:33

Romans 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! When we do something great, we often are proud of ourselves. But when we think of how smart God is . . . well that is different. God is so much wiser than the wisest man on earth. When a really smart man looks into a microscope and makes a discovery of a tiny creature that has never been described before, he feels important. But he must remember that God made that tiny creature thousands of years before he was born! The smart discoverer is just now catching up with a tiny bit of God’s wonderful creation! We as humans must be amazed at the total wisdom and knowledge of Almighty God. That is what our verse says. How amazing and how wise is our God! We will never catch up with God’s wisdom! Isn’t it wonderful to serve Him?