Let us Worship with our whole Body

Pastor Carol Grace ♦ July 17, 2020 ♦ Leave a comment

“This World Is Not My Home”

This world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.

Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you
If heaven’s not my home
Then Lord what will I do.

The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.

Hear now the reading of God’s Holy Word.

9. Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, 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. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This is the Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.

Let us pray: Father God, each day that you give us is unique, special in its own way. So we pray that today we may not waste the time you have given us, but help us to make the hours count for you and for others. Increase in us our love for you and for others and help us to realize that our home awaits us in heaven.

Have you ever heard the expression, “Proving ground?” According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a proving ground is a place for testing or a place where something is developed or tried out. I have known for much of my life that our very existence here on this earth is a proving ground, and that you and I are developing, hopefully, into the people of God.

Paul said in Romans that we are to offer our very bodies as living sacrifices to God, for that is WORSHIP. And, he goes on to state that we are not to conform (or fit in, or follow the crowd) to the pattern, (or model or design) of this world. Instead, we are to become transformed by the renewing of our minds. What in the world is Paul saying?

Well, brothers and sisters, what Paul is saying is NOT in this world. At least, our destination is not in this world, because Paul understood that this world is not our home. Does Paul’s admonition mean we are supposed to hate the world in which we live? No, but neither are we to cling to it so tightly that we lose sight of heaven.

I love the beauty of this world. I often tell Larry we are so blessed to have had so many good friends in our lives. We have children and grandchildren whom we adore, and our home is filled with the clickety-clack and barking of our four-legged family as we go through each day. We have the Word of God to sustain and grow us (to renew our minds daily) and we have reached the age where we can finally rest.

But let me encourage you that resting is not passive, but instead it is active when you do it the right way. Jesus says to “come to me and I will give you rest.” We are told to “be anxious in nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:6-8.

As I was writing this, my husband interrupted me to come hold a ladder for Him, putting to test the very words of this scripture. But as I held the ladder, I repeated the words of the scripture in my mind. Be anxious in nothing!

Hear now this blessing. God loves each of us so much. Allow Him to show you how to rest in Him. Take the name of Jesus with you, and share Him with all you meet.