Romans 12 Discussion

Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!
This verse is hard for anyone to follow; anyone who has decided to live a Christian life and love God and want to follow in Jesus' footsteps. It's hard to put aside our old sinful lifestyle of allowing drama to take over our live, allowing hurtful things stay with you for long periods of time, to want revenge for hurtful things done to you or someone else. But that's not God's way. This world..makes it very hard to live a good Christian life. Though it is possible. There will be times when we are persecuted for what we believe. We will be challenged because we say that we're Christian yet we watch shows that include fantasy. Or we read books that include romance.

There are many things of this world that we're allowed to enjoy, as long as we don't let it take over our life. If we let anything come between ourselves and God, we need to let it go. That can be anything. A new coat, a new car, a new Ipod, new clothes, books, shows, anything you can imagine; if we allow it to come between us and God, we have to let it go. But that doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to enjoy these things. Like any good thing, enjoying these things in small amounts, as long as we don't let it control our lives is ok.

I myself have come to know people through my enjoyment of anime. I have met other Christians and become friends with them through our mutual enjoyment of different shows. God can use things like books, shows, physical things to help us connect with others who may enjoy the same thing. In doing that, we are also able to reach out to those who may be lost and hurting. By having one or more mutual interest, we are able to establish a connection between people and through that connection we can get to know the person more and possibly even bring them to God and have them accept Jesus as their savior.

That's how a friend of mine brought me back to being full force for God. She noticed I had been reading the Twilight books and struck up a conversation with me. Over the time we talked more and more and I explained to her about my struggles. Because I felt that connection with her, she was able to bring me back to living a more Christian life.

Now, would I be here now if she hadn't come up to me and started a conversation about her enjoyment of Twilight as well? Would I have been more accepting of hearing her belief in God if she was just some random woman coming up to me out of no where? Probably not. But God used that mutual interest to connect the two of us into a friendship that grew and grew and is still growing. I honestly don't think I'd be where I am today if God hadn't placed people like her in my life. Those who used mutual interests to make a connection before sharing their faith with God; keep doing it. Even though I already had a faith in God, having that connection was important. Without it, I don't think I would be where I am now.

Now, this has been really bothering me. Romans 12:3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

This one really sinks deep. Over the years I have struggled with thinking that because I've been a Christian longer that I'm better than someone who's just starting out. Now that's not true. We all started out on the same playing field. Equals. No one is better than anyone. Not I, not you, not anyone. I've had to take a seriously had look at myself and ask myself if I'm really as strong as I claim to be. The honest answer? No. It took me a long time to come to that conclusion and I realized that I'm not as strong as I thought I was; but that doesn't mean I'm not a good Christian. For what defines a good Christian? We're not supposed to be judging each other, for that's GOD's job. Our job is to love one another. And encourage one another. God gives us each different struggles that we have to face. Each of us have different mountains that we need to climb. So honestly, we have no right to stand there and judge another person who's struggling with something we may not be struggling with. It's what God has for them to make them stronger for whatever his reasons may be.

Judging others doesn't do anything but cause hatred, and separation. When people judge each other they are making themselves look bigger, while making the person they're judging look smaller which can hamper their ability to have a strong faith. They may even LOSE their faith completely! Believe it or not, it does happen. When a person is judged, they start to feel like they're not good enough; that no matter what they do they'll never be good enough. Trust me I felt this way for a very long time and there are times that I do still feel this way, but this judgment of others and feelings of not being good enough aren't of God. They're of the devil. The devil uses these to bring people down and hold them back from what God has planned for them. It's a way to stop them from helping the kingdom of God grow brighter and stronger. It's a horrible vice that attacks even the strongest of Christians.

Romans 12:14 "Bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them; pray that God will bless them.
This is SO hard to follow. It's so much easier to just become defensive and want to protect ourselves from being persecuted, and that's our natural human reaction. The thing we need to do is let those feelings go and give them to God. Trust me they're hard to let go of! I mean there are times I'm ready to just give up and cry, and I do cry, but I don't give up. You want to know why? Because I know that it may hurt now, but it's worth it in the end because what God has for me is insurmountably better than what the world has for me. I thought being persecuted was bad when I was just starting out, you know a friend or two bashing on your belief…now that I'm more open about it and share my faith and my opinions; it's worse. But you know what? That's ok. Because it means that I'm doing a good job sharing the word of God with the world. That doesn't mean they like it, but at least it's getting out there. The same goes for you too. Don't let those who disagree with you and bash you, bring you down.

When you start to feel persecuted how do you feel? Do you feel hurt? Ashamed? Mad? Be honest. How do you feel? When you start to feel that way, close your eyes(make sure you're safe when doing this, don't do it when driving or walking!), start talking to God whether mentally or verbally, talk to him. Tell him how you feel and start praying to God about the person that you feel persecuted by. Pray that God will help them see him through you or through others that are brought into his or her life. When you start to feel those feelings bubble up, take a deep breath and ask God to take them for you. Ask him to take away the bad feelings and replace them with peace. Slowly let God's peace and comfort blanket around you and just relax. God's got a plan. We don't know what it is exactly; but he does and it works out in HIS time, not ours.

Romans 12:12-13 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
How many of you struggle with some or all of this verse? I do too. It's hard to be patient during times of trouble. We as humans have begun to expect a "Put in a prayer and get answered then and there" type of attitude and when we pray and nothing happens, we want to give up. We don't have patience anymore. And we don't want to help anyone in need either. We'll say that the person holding up the sign is homeless because he made himself/herself homeless by their decisions. We assume that they are either drug addicts, or alcoholics. But who are we to assume anything? What if we were out there on the street corner through no fault of our own? Would you want people to be judgmental towards you or hospitable? Do you act that way when you see someone like that? Be honest. It won't help if you lie to yourself. Be honest. It's never easy to admit when we're wrong. Because growing up we've been told that if you're wrong you're an idiot and stupid. That's not something we should be caught. Being wrong doesn't mean that you're an idiot or stupid, it just means that you didn't know or you didn't understand; and there's nothing wrong with that. By learning that we're wrong we can do one of two things; we can accept that we were wrong and learn from the experience and grow from it, or we can sit there and mope and get angry about it. Which would you rather do? Grow or be angry?

Anyways, back to the verse, it's hard to want to help people anymore, especially with how selfish the world is now-a-days. It's hard to reach out to people who need it the most for fear that we'll lose things that mean something to us. Should we seriously be letting our material possessions have higher importance than helping people? Really? No. Things can come and go, but one good deed done to someone in need can affect a million. By helping that one person, you can give them hope that there are good people out there; and that hope can inspire them to help someone else, and they could help others and the cycle continues on and on. You never know what one kind deed does to someone. Not until you try it. Even if you don't see the results immediately, God sees it.

Now throughout this I've been speaking from my heart. I'll be honest, I started typing this because I was being attacked and I wanted to defend myself, but that was wrong. I just re-read everything that I typed and I feel that it needs to be shared. I know there are others who are going through something similar to what I'm going through, and I want to make sure that hey know that' it's ok. They don't have to fight it alone. There's help with your fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Prayer does work. It just takes time. Please. Please please please please PLEASE…take a moment and look at your life. Be honest with yourself and see where you stand. You can't continue to grow stronger if you have weeds of the world pulling you back down. Maybe now is the time to get rid of those weeds and cling to the word of God. I love you all so very much God bless! <3 <3 <3