Life in God’s Service
by Stuart Malkin 26 August 2022
These pictures may not be obvious at first, but it is amazing what has been going on when you start looking in the most unusual places in the garden. In one of outhouses we found the most beautiful bees nest, look carefully at its intricate work of art, both inside and outside.
We do not know how many were involved as the garden is full of flowers which the bees have found useful. The question is, what is our life in God's service and in his eyes, is it as beautiful?
(No bee was injured in the photography seen)
Reading Romans 12:1 to 8
So then, my brothers and sisters, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is true worship that you should offer. Do you conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect. And because of God’s gracious gift to me I say to everyone of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you. We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions. In the same way though we are many, we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body. So we are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to speak God’s message, we should do it according to the faith that we have: if it is to serve we should serve: if it is to teach, we should teach: if it is to encourage others, we should do so. Whoever shares with others should do it generously: whoever has authority should work hard: whoever shows kindness to others should do it cheerfully.
YouTube shows adverts which may not be appropriate to the video we have selected.
Do we have to have gifts that invariably are based on those around us, based on the thought of ‘if only I had that gift”?
In the Times newspaper the other day a nurse who lives close to the Dover coast wrote the following -
“Channel Migrants, when you see them freezing and wet I defy anyone not to feel pity”.
These words of the writer similar to the bee's nest, beautiful on the inside and outside, intricately constructed.
When Paul wrote the above letter to the Roman church he wanted the recipients to experience a wonderful change of mind and heart in all they did and thought in doing so know what it was to have God’s transformation.
I have to admire the nurse in her writing because she goes on to say -
“I wanted to take these people to my cottage and find out more about them but the authorities didn’t give me the opportunity “
A gift of compassion is a gift indeed and perhaps Paul would have been assured to add to the list.
YouTube shows adverts which may not be appropriate to the video we have selected.
Prayer
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all now and
for ever more.
Amen