2022 saw the completion of Romans and James
My Romans 11:36:
Everything comes from him;
everything has him as its starting point.
Everything is through him;
everything is accomplished by him.
Everything is for him;
everything has him as its ultimate goal.
To him be the supreme glory,
praise and worship
now and for ever and ever!
Yes, yes, yes! Amen!
My Romans 12:1-2:
1 Therefore, in response to God’s gloriously generous acts of mercy and grace, I urge you, my brothers and sisters, to submit to God. Offer your bodies, in fact your whole selves – every part of your body and every area of your life – as a living sacrifice to God. Such a sacrifice is:
- total: keep nothing back.
- willing: gladly submit to God because you’re thankful for all he has done for you.
- living: remember that you actively share in the resurrection life of Christ.
- holy: cultivate the fruit of the Spirit to become more like Christ himself.
- thoughtful: serve the Lord as an act of worship with your hearts and minds gripped by his love.
Such a sacrifice will always be acceptable and pleasing to God.
2 Although you live in the world, don’t conform to the world around you: don’t let the ways of the world shape how you live. You need to be transformed from the inside out. Your inner self needs to be completely changed, because what you do is influenced by how you think. Replace the thought patterns of the world around you by constantly renewing your mind. Take in and apply the ever-fresh word of God, and your thinking will be reshaped by the Holy Spirit. You will then be able to discern and fulfil what is the will of God, what is good, perfect and pleasing to him.
My James 5:16:
‘The prayer of a righteous person – one who leads a life of godly integrity – is powerful and effective. When you pray, God releases the power of his infinite resources. Never forget that your prayers make a huge impact.’
2023 has seen the completion of Colossians and Philemon
‘Outrageously thankful’
One phrase in Colossians 2:7 kept ringing in my ears as I worked on the text: ‘outrageously thankful to Christ’. The traditional versions have ‘overflowing with thankfulness’. I searched through a thesaurus for synonyms for very and they all seemed to have negative overtones. I therefore looked for a synonym which one worked best with ‘thankful’ and came up with ‘outrageously thankful to Christ’. Thank you, Lord!
At the time of writing I am editing the Pastoral Letters (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus).
