Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and images from Clay Crosse, Bob Carlisle, and Bebe Winans singing … I Will Follow Christ … powerfully singing of how we, as Christians, will follow Him to live as He lived.
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: Romans 12:15 [ESV] ... 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
… As Christians we must rejoice and weep with our fellow Christians.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Romans, Chapter 12 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Paul lays out what it takes to be a true disciple of Christ, sacrificing self for the Savior.
==============
Reference Passage : … Matthew, Chapters 5-7 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was a crash course in Christian living, taking the Law of Moses to a whole new level of selfless living.
Reference Passage : … Colossians 3:1-17 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… Paul writes to fellow Christians on what it takes to put on the new self of Christlikeness.
Reference Passage : … Colossians 3:1-17 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, lays out how Christians must live in harmony with one other, guided by God’s Spirit to live lives worthy of Christ.
Reference Passage : … James 2: 14-26 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK …
… James, the brother of Jesus, teaches that one who declares as Christians must have good and Godly works to validate their faith.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Arthur Jackson, uses an historical reference to illustrate what it takes to live as Christians in the wake of horrible human tragedy. … The ODB author wrote: During a two-month period in 1994, as many as one million Tutsis were slain in Rwanda by Hutu tribe members bent on killing their fellow countrymen. In the wake of this horrific genocide, Bishop Geoffrey Rwubusisi approached his wife about reaching out to women whose loved ones had been slain. Mary’s reply was, “All I want to do is cry.” She too had lost members of her family. The bishop’s response was that of a wise leader and caring husband: “Mary, gather the women together and cry with them.” He knew his wife’s pain had prepared her to uniquely share in the pain of others.
Fellow Christian, … much of the New Testament [see Scriptures above] is all about what it takes to BE A CHRISTIAN; … to put on the new self of Christlikeness and lives of living sacrifice to our Lord. And in doing this, as the highlight passage and verse declare, we Christians will end up rejoicing with our fellow Christians in times of joy and weeping with them in times of sorrow [see photo]. Much of what Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount (linked above) is all about how to live as a follower of His, … following the One Who had come to save us from ourselves.
Much - if not most - of what the Apostle Paul wrote in the NT was calling fellow Christians to live lives of worthiness and newness in Christ, … as living sacrifices for our Lord.
I’ll leave it to you, reading this, to do a self inventory, having listened to the linked song and mediated on the Scriptures above, to see if we’re rejoicing and weeping with fellow Christians [see photso] as our Lord has called us to in His word. Personally, I’ve got a way to go myself.
=============
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for being our model for living the way You would have us live … for YOU!!
=============
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to do all we can to be living sacrifices and living lives worthy of our calling in Christ. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
No comments:
Post a Comment