Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water. Verses 7-8
Romans 12:1-3
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. Verses 1-2
Wow. I love this translation of these two verses. Especially the part about not fitting into the culture around us without thinking about it. That is such a danger, and I feat that I have slipped into that trap a good bit. There are things about our culture that I despise, but there are also things about it that I love. I need to stop and think a bit more about how that affects my life and walk.
But what truly speaks to me here is the way he phrases that first verse. "Take your ordinary life." That's what God wants from us, after all. We aren't all dynamic, extra-special people. Most of us are just that...ordinary. "...your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life..." Yes! That is the life that God wants us to give to him! Give that life to God as an offering and embrace what he does for you!
Grace and peace, friends!