Verse of the Day 7/4

Verse of the Day 7/4

Romans 12:3-4 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,    English Standard Version (ESV)

Happy Independence Day!  Today we celebrate our nation's independence remembering the declaration made on July 4, 1776, part of which stated, "we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  This declaration of independence unified the people of what was to be our country.

In recent posts we've considered the lack of civility and lack of love in our society.  There is seemingly more going on right now to break it apart rather than to band together and make it stronger.  Today's verse is a reminder that we are in this together by the grace of God.  Our country was founded for freedom, but not an independence from each other but to be unified with each other, agreeing to the truths mentioned above.  Many of those trying to tear it down are those who think of themselves "more highly than they ought to think". 

Our country does not seem to be operating under the principle of being one body with many members.  We, as Christians need to be setting the example in our churches and in the community.  We have been saved by God's grace, for a purpose, as a body of believers.      "While all believers have a God-given measure of faith (Romans 12:3), what saves us is the work God's grace accomplished in Jesus Christ. No matter how big or small our faith, it could not be effective if God wasn't graciously willing to save us. We are saved by grace—through our faith in Christ."  (source unknown)    We are dead to sin and alive in Christ  And we long to be a living sacrifice  Purify our hearts and cleanse our hands  To live holy lives in Your sovereign plan    We stand in grace  We stand in grace  Justified through faith in Christ  Who is the perfect sacrifice  We stand in grace   (We Stand in Grace - Steve Camp)  

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Romans 12:3-6 The Message (MSG)

³ I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

^4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.