Last week I had once of those balloons go off in my head. What I mean is when some thing just clicks and hits home and gets your attention. It reminds me of a cartoon when the person had a balloon thought over them.
It came about through singing the worship song "Blessed Be Your Name" and the verse that caught me was this:
"Blessed be your name, When the sun's shining down on me. When the world's all as it should be. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. On the road marked with suffering. Though there's pain in the offering. Blessed be your name."
The line that hit was "though there is pain in the offering", and it talks about worship and following Jesus being costly. Follow me.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace 'cause they would not bow to the king. God saved them. Paul, the Apostle, who killed Christians, now the biggest evangelist to hit the world. Daniel in the lion's den. Countless people through church history who have lost their lives because of their faith. Then I remember the men who died on a river beach in Ecuador in January 1956, the movie "End of the Spear" is about them, all because they knew they had to win the Alca Indians to Jesus.
What are we willing to do? How far are we willing to go? Will we give up pleasure, comfort and peace all to serve Jesus? Are we willing? Think about it.
"Though there is pain in the offering ... blessed be Your name." That is to Jesus!
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life— your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life— and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
It came about through singing the worship song "Blessed Be Your Name" and the verse that caught me was this:
"Blessed be your name, When the sun's shining down on me. When the world's all as it should be. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. On the road marked with suffering. Though there's pain in the offering. Blessed be your name."
The line that hit was "though there is pain in the offering", and it talks about worship and following Jesus being costly. Follow me.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace 'cause they would not bow to the king. God saved them. Paul, the Apostle, who killed Christians, now the biggest evangelist to hit the world. Daniel in the lion's den. Countless people through church history who have lost their lives because of their faith. Then I remember the men who died on a river beach in Ecuador in January 1956, the movie "End of the Spear" is about them, all because they knew they had to win the Alca Indians to Jesus.
What are we willing to do? How far are we willing to go? Will we give up pleasure, comfort and peace all to serve Jesus? Are we willing? Think about it.
"Though there is pain in the offering ... blessed be Your name." That is to Jesus!
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life— your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life— and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
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