“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1

“Trash or recycle?” Katie asked me this morning. After my initial “Huh?” she explained that the handful of pens in her hand had quit writing. Her inquiry was in which bin to throw them… trash or recycle? Surprisingly, it was a spiritual moment! After telling her the subject of today’s message, her mouth and eyes opened in ‘WOW’ fashion, then we both exclaimed… “PERFECT!”

The theme for tonight’s Bible Study will be… what we ARE doing now, and what we WILL be doing in Heaven. The answer can easily be found in every book of the Bible. But I’m convinced that the proper description and display of ‘Worship’ has been abused. If someone asked for a modern example of worship, they’d be more apt to get a shiny gold pen rather than a written line of text!

The idea that worship is raised hands, closed eyes, swaying bodies and lips repeating, “You are worthy oh Lord,” just doesn’t sit well with what today’s Bible verse is trying to convey! God has perfect Holy Angels surrounding His throne continually proclaiming His Holiness and worth. My little voice adds no value to their message. What is God trying to say in the message of the pens?

Katie and I have different reactions when pens quit working. If it is in her hand and it stops, she tries a few times to see if it will go again. If it doesn’t, she throws it away! In her words, “a pen is supposed to work! When it doesn’t, I have no desire to try to coax it to do its job.” Me? I’ll try heating it in my coffee or with a lighter. I’ll even apply enzymes, sucking on the tip to make it go!

The purpose of a pen is to write. The purpose of man is to…? When Lucifer chose to oppose and take over God’s position, it is interesting to note that the weapon of God’s choice to defeat him was NOT to throw him away. His most bold move was to bend down to form a weapon out of… DIRT! Filling the dirt-bag with Himself, God announced His plan to all of creation. His enemies laughed!

Being a dirt-bag in a dirty world, getting dirtier by the day, is a tough assignment. Is my job to simply squeak out some shiny noise about God’s value among the dirty? Or, as seems to be indicated by today’s verse, am I to yield my life to Him and allow Him to personally introduce Himself to other dirty people by allowing Him to touch them through my hands?

Am I doing what He created me to do? Are you? Even in the dark times?

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I consider the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land.” Psalm 143:5-6

“There are 2 kinds of people,” I said to 2 of my grandkids. When I’m with ANY kids I like to dump wisdom on them! Since I’m more partial to my own grandkids, I REALLY like to slather it on! If they appreciate it or not is not really my call. Farmers farm, teachers teach and gram-paws are supposed to pass down wisdom! “Goal oriented and task oriented people,” I continued… “which are YOU!”

Driving the car I held them captive! Their captivity showed when they rolled their eyes in a, “here we go,” kind of way! They had been content to ride silently in the car, listen to the radio or look at their phones. Me? I knew that the time we share is rare and priceless… AND I want our time to matter since, one day I’ll be dead! I’d like them to have something WISE to say at my funeral!

Since they didn’t know about goal or task oriented people, I told them that Goal oriented people are focused on reaching a particular objective, while task oriented people focus on doing things. That while BOTH types of people are necessary, each of us has a bent toward one trait or the other. Summing the conversation, I said, “a way determine your own trait is to ask ‘whaduhyawant?’”

Being a goal oriented person, I don’t like rules. Rules are great for hemming task oriented people into their roles, but I have found that often, there are ways to get things done that don’t fit within a list of rules. Hence, my discomfort with the Old Testament Law! Since there are 613 laws, it’s not uncommon to focus on 1 so much that I break another without realizing. I needed a big picture!

As I was reading IN The Word that Jesus IS The Word, the Holy Spirit gave me an elbow nudge with the thought that “Jesus IS The Law!” When that idea exploded inside me, something actually settled in my heart too. I LOVE Jesus! I want MORE of Jesus. And maybe, If I put JESUS as the goal and head of my daily life, doing ‘The Law’ will just come about naturally. Whaduh’I’want? I want more Jesus!

So… that all being said, lemmie ask YOU… Whaduh’U’want? What and where do you focus your time and efforts? Are you reading and meditating on God’s Word… His Son? I pray today’s verse will be a big help to you… no matter HOW your oriented!

“When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.” Deuteronomy 20:1

“Ughhhhhh!!!” was the sound I made, because it was the feeling I felt! In the writing world the description is called Onomatopoeia… a word that mimics a sound. I was feeling that way because I realized the job in front of me, but I didn’t really FEEL like doing it! It wasn’t a hard or labor intensive job… it was just not going to be fun! I needed a motivator to adjust my attitude!

Katie’s new car showed the evidence of many a small battle. While the multitudinous dead carcasses of bugs splattered on the front evidenced her victories, the job of cleaning them off and waxing it to prevent further carnage fell upon me. If you’re looking for a dead bug cleaner offer… I’m not your guy! But the job needed done so I did what I do and started by turning on some Jesus music!

Ever since I was old enough to ‘DO’ stuff, I found that, for me, doing it with music made the job easier. Varying between rock music, country or Christian, depends on my mood and attitude. If you come around when I’m really blue, you’ll likely hear Elvis singing Gospel music! But I wasn’t that low so, Oldies slowly changed my attitude and lifted me up enough to get the job done. VICTORY!

In reading up on the story of David and Goliath last week, I found today’s Bible verse in the notes of my Scofield Bible. When I turned to the Old Law I was quite surprised! Right there was God giving a command to the Israelites that, BEFORE they go into battle, they’d better ‘check their attitudes!’ After committing to be a warrior for God, Rule #1 was “Do NOT be AFRAID! HMMMM!

Being an emotional kind of person, I have to confess that ups and downs too often follow external circumstances. I can easily see how facing a big or difficult job can naturally start off with a poor attitude. But a poor attitude can determine how far one can rise in the altitude of any work environment. As God led me through The Word, I found LOTS of God commands about my attitude.

Sorrow, happiness, worry, fear and anger are just SOME attitudes that can determine the altitude, or success, in the areas of faithfulness, encouragement, gentleness, patience, love, joy, and peace. I discovered that God has PLENTY of words telling me what my attitudes should be. All of them pointing toward, as His child, DOING something with, and through Him. I can hear Him singing!

How is YOUR attitude as you face family, friends, associates and the world? Do you have your Jesus face on?