Romans 12:1-2

So it's been pretty insane. I had a dream last night, where within the dream, in three different instances, Romans 12:1-2 was mentioned. And so I was thinking about it on the way to church, and thinking about wanting to go and read it in context, and then Pastor Mike mentioned it in his sermon! I was just like, holy cow.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer 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."

I love those verses. It goes along with Hume Lake the summer before my sophomore year. The theme based on 1 Peter 1. About being strangers in this world. Not conforming.

The Message has a cool version of Romans 12:1-2
"1 -2 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."

I remember how badly when I came back from Hume that year, I was so set on wanting to be a stranger in this world. To stand out. To have people question why I'm happy. To have people ask me about my faith. To not just go with the flow, but to do what I know's right. Man. That summer was awesome. And then this summer was amazing. I have the greatest times when I am focused on God. When it's not about pleasing myself and making myself happy, I'm more happy. When it's about others. I find my joy, in others being happy. Or, well, that's kinda like, hypocritical of what I said in the last post. I guess I find joy in others being genuinely happy? Or I find joy in trying to help others feel better. I don't know. This makes me happy just by typing this stuff out, even if I'm not making sense. But I love it!


And I like Romans 12:11-13, it reminds me a lot of what our team was about. Like, majorly.
11 -13"Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality."