Romans 12:7-8

If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. In three of his letters, Paul talks about the gifts that God has given to Christians, and each list is very different. Here and in Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12, he makes it clear that every follower of Christ has been given a unique gift from God which is vital for the Church, the body of Christ. God gives his gifts according to the needs of the Church, and I am quite sure that if Paul were writing today, he would be keen to add the gift of helping with public address systems and digital technology. The Holy Spirit gives just the right gifts to his Church to enable it to be effective. The point that Paul is making here is that once you have found your gift, you need to get on and use it. It isn’t like an award or certificate that you can put on display in a prominent place in your house so you can show off to other people. Gifts are given so that they can be put to good use. There’s nothing more tragic than someone keeping their gift to themselves. It is vital that we all know what our individual gift is. I don’t believe for a moment that God wants to keep this a secret from us, so if you can’t immediately identify your gift, I would encourage you to pray about it. Ask God to show you, and remember that gifts change with time and circumstances. As we get older, our strength and opportunities change, so the gift he might give you now may be very different from the gift you used to have. If you don’t hear God telling you what your gift is, I would urge you to talk to a trusted friend about this. I suspect that they will quickly be able to identify it. Whatever it is, remember that God wants you to use that gift wholeheartedly for him.

Questions Do you know what your gift is? If not, what action are you going to take to identify it?

Prayer Loving God, thank you that you have given me a special gift. Help me to use it enthusiastically for you. Amen

Romans 12:3

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. It is vital for all of us to have a true understanding of ourselves. If we go around with an inflated view of our own importance, the whole of life will look distorted. Relationships will be damaged, and we will add layers of difficulty to everyday life. It is just as damaging to have too low a view of ourselves. If we go into the day feeling that we are unimportant and don’t count, we are liable to be steamrollered by the smallest of difficulties. What we need is an accurate understanding of who we are, and that’s what we gain by faith. As we place our trust in God, we learn that we are made in his image and are of infinite worth. Nothing we do is unimportant when we know that the Holy Spirit is filling us and directing our actions. The apostle Paul is clearly very concerned about this subject and presents it to the Roman church as a warning at the beginning of this section on living the Christian life. He knew the destructive power of arrogance, and was aware that it could creep into any area of life, including the Church. The moment anyone claims that they know best, there are problems. That’s why God is so firmly opposed to arrogance. Proverbs tells us that “the LORD detests the proud” (Proverbs 16:5) and warns us that “pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). God invites us to live a life of humility which means that, however strongly we might feel about something, we are always ready to learn, and always willing to admit that we might be wrong. Jesus couldn’t possibly have been clearer on the subject. When the disciples asked him who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he said that unless they changed and became like little children, they would never be able to gain entry. Time and again, the disciples were in competition with one another, but they needed to learn that humility was the key to blessing in God’s kingdom – and it still is.

Question In whose life have you seen true humility?

Prayer Lord God, help me to learn more today about living humbly before you. Amen

Romans 12:2

Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Every day, our thinking is being shaped by our society. Most of the time, we are totally unaware that this is happening, but there is no way that we can avoid being influenced by the expectations and standards of the people around us, by the information and views that we receive through the media and by ingenious and attractive advertising. We won’t swallow all of it whole, but we cannot be immune from those many powerful influences. As J B Phillips put it in his famous Bible translation, we need to resist the world’s attempts to squeeze us “into its own mould”. The apostle Paul said we need God to transform us by changing the way we think. This is incredibly radical, but without it we will continue to be the same as we have always been. When Jesus met Nicodemus, a respected Jewish rabbi, he told him that he had to be born again. This sounded like nonsense to Nicodemus, who couldn’t understand how he could possibly enter his mother’s womb for a second time. Jesus had to explain that the new birth that he was talking about was a new spiritual birth, which would lead to a new spiritual life. The only way for our lives to be transformed is by allowing the Holy Spirit to shape our thinking. It will never happen by our own efforts and reflections. The outcome of this transformative process is that we will know what God’s will is, and that must be the ultimate goal for all of us. Every day, we need God’s guidance to ensure that we are living our lives to the full amid all the challenges, difficulties and opportunities of life. Giving in to the world’s pressures will only end in disaster. Day by day, we need to let God remould our minds from within.

Question In what particular ways has God transformed your thinking recently?

Prayer Loving Father, thank you that your Holy Spirit is constantly at work in my life, helping me to think in ways that will glorify you. Amen

Romans 12:1

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. We use the word worship in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes we use it to refer to a church service, and at other times we use it for a part of the service which is called “a time of worship”, normally consisting of prayers and singing. Here, Paul is using the word in a much bigger way. He is talking about us giving our whole lives to God as an act of worship, and he suggests that this is the only fitting response to a God who has done everything for us. Paul has absolutely no thought that we could worship God for a while and then get on with our own life, as if we could divide up life into different compartments. Our whole life needs to be focused on worshipping God. Paul invited the Christians in Rome to offer their worship to God as a living and holy sacrifice. With Jesus’ death on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice had been made, so there would be no need for the old sacrificial system. However, Jesus made it clear that those who followed him would need to sacrifice their lives. It is unambiguous language. Jesus said to his disciples: “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Matthew 16:25). Jesus calls us to give up the whole of our lives to him because he wants to transform and bless every part of them. This means that our time working, playing sport, travelling, relaxing with the family and shopping are acts of worship just as much as our times praising God with our Christian brothers and sisters. God wants every aspect of our lives to be touched by his presence.

Question In what ways is worship important to you?

Prayer Lord God, I thank you for your amazing generosity to me. Help me to place the whole of this day into your hands so that you can bless everything I say and do. Amen

Psalm 88:1-3

O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. This is possibly the saddest of all the psalms. The psalmist cried out to God in a state of total despair. Many of the psalms are referred to as psalms of lament, but this one goes even further and is full of absolute desperation. It is painful to read because it is so bleak, but I am so glad that it is part of the Bible. It reminds us that God is there for us, whatever the circumstances. His love reaches out to us even in the darkest of places. It reminds me of Psalm 139 where the psalmist declared that it is impossible to escape from God’s Spirit: “I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there” (vv7-8). We are all different and you might not have been through such desperate times, and perhaps never will, but we will all meet people who are struggling with life and it is important for us to be able to point them to psalms like this. For amid his battling, the psalmist knew that he could turn to God and be totally honest about his situation. He didn’t need to dress up and put on a good performance for God. He could come to God just as he was with all the sharp edges of his confusion and disappointment. I fear at times that people perceive the Church as a place for good people who have resolved all the difficult issues in their life. The doors are open wide to people who are struggling and who are willing to be open to God. I used to work in a church which had a huge notice on the front of the building declaring: “Welcome. No perfect people allowed.” Of course, since none of us is perfect, the church was saying that everyone was welcome! Whether we are in debt or wealthy, disappointed with life or fulfilled, friendless or surrounded by friends, in employment, unemployed or retired, God gladly welcomes us. We are all welcome, just as we are!

Question Is your church good at welcoming every kind of person? If not, why not?

Prayer Loving heavenly Father, thank you that your arms are open wide to people whatever their circumstances. Amen

Psalm 86:11

Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! I wonder what your school teachers were like. I suspect that we all had a wide range of experiences. Some of my teachers were strict, others were encouraging, a few were inspiring. Some seemed to be in the wrong job, others were funny - and some just thought they were funny! Teachers vary enormously, but when it comes to learning about life itself, we need the very best teacher. Here, David recognises that God is that person. God is often spoken of as Israel’s teacher. In Isaiah 2:3, the prophet identified Jerusalem as the centre of education for the world when he wrote: “People from many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For the LORD’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.” Sadly, God’s teaching was often rejected. In Jeremiah’s prophecy we hear God saying: “My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey” (Jeremiah 32:33). Aren’t they painful words? No one likes it when someone turns their back on them, but when God’s own people reject his teaching, it must be excruciatingly painful. If we are to grow in our walk with God, we need to listen hard to his instruction. Many people will help us on that journey, but God is the source of all faithful teaching. He sends us preachers, teachers, Bibles and study books, and surrounds us with Christian friends who can help us to understand what he is saying to us. To use the powerful language of Jeremiah’s prophecy, we need to make sure that we turn our faces to his teaching and not our backs.

Question What is God teaching you at the moment?

Prayer Loving Father, thank you that your teaching always encourages and strengthens us. Amen

Psalm 86:8

No pagan god is like you, O Lord. None can do what you do! There have always been lots of gods on offer. A god is anything that calls for our commitment and devotion, and in every age, there has been a colourful variety of options. I once stayed with a journalist in Mumbai who had a remarkable variety of gods in his flat. There were pictures of many Hindu deities, but Jesus and Mary were there as well. Gods also come in more subtle forms. A person’s family or their job, house, bank balance, hobby or sport can be their god. All of those things are good in themselves, but when they are turned into gods, they take on a completely different and potentially destructive significance. King David was well aware of the wide range of gods that he could worship, but he concluded that the God of Israel was incomparably great. He alone was worthy of David’s commitment and devotion. The prophets spent a lot of time mocking the false gods of their time. Isaiah mocked the wood carver who carefully worked with his chisel and plane to carve a human figure. He created a little shrine out of it and fell down in worship before it, crying: “Rescue me! You are my god.” He then took another part of the wood to make a fire with which he warmed himself and baked bread. Isaiah laughed at the sheer absurdity of this and called the wood carver a “poor, deluded fool” (Isaiah 44:20). Tough talk, but Isaiah knew that worshipping the one true God was something of infinite importance. David and Isaiah’s straightforward approach to false gods needs to challenge our own attitudes. Like them, we would let other people down if we didn’t make it clear that any other god will be a complete disappointment. They may give encouragement for a while, but ultimately they are bound to let us down. Only the one true God will be faithful to us for time and eternity. Only he is worthy of our commitment and devotion.

Question What are the most common gods in our society?

Prayer Lord God, I commit my whole self to you as the one true God. Help me to be faithful to you and to take every opportunity to speak to others about your incomparable greatness. Amen

Psalm 86:5

O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Sooner or later, everything breaks down. Whether you are thinking of your health, car, bicycle, microwave, computer, vacuum cleaner or heating system, all of them will, one day, encounter problems. In this psalm, David faces up to the fact that we all sin. It’s not pleasant to admit, but we would be crazy to suggest that it doesn’t affect us. Of course, we may try to wriggle out of this by suggesting that our sins are not nearly as bad as other people’s sins but, at the end of the day, we need to acknowledge that we are sinners, falling well short of God’s standards. The Bible doesn’t draw our attention to our sin in order to humiliate us, or to encourage us to beat ourselves up. It shines the light on our sin in order to show us the remedy. In Romans 3:23, the apostle Paul wrote: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Sadly, we let God down each day through our self-centredness. Our thoughts, words and actions are all cheapened and spoilt through our preoccupation with ourselves. Because we are not entirely in tune with God, we fail to say and do many things that he would have wanted. The remedy for sin is truly amazing. God offers to wipe it out. He offers to forgive our sins. We are familiar with the fact that failings normally lead to penalties. If I fail to drive at an appropriate speed, or to park in the right place, I am likely to get a penalty, and although we huff and puff, we know that’s what happens and we accept it. But what happens about the penalty for our sin? The Bible tells us that Jesus took that penalty upon himself through dying on the cross. He was perfect, so was able to take the weight of our failures upon himself and offer us forgiveness. God offers his forgiveness to us today and, as we face the facts, we all need to turn to him and receive his gift.

Question In what ways do you regularly let God down?

Prayer Lord God, I admit that I have failed you in thought, word and deed and I accept your generous gift of forgiveness. Amen