This, in part, was the beginning of my journey into the deeper spiritual life of the spiritual disciplines. I had previously read Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline as part of a Spiritual Formation class that I was taking at Vennard College. I had only recently begun a relationship with Jesus Christ a little over a year previous, and had just accepted the call of vocational ministry. It was out of this, my first experience of writing out what I experienced during the practice of Lectio Divina, that I started journaling and eventually this blog.
Deuteronomy 15:12 says, “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. 13 “When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 “You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 “It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. A couple of weeks ago my family and I were having our family devotions. We are going through some curriculum that is refreshing us in the spiritual disciplines. Part of this refreshing is learning the practice of Lectio Divina; or divine reading. This is a process where you read the scripture, meditate on parts of the passage that God brings out of it, and pray for guidance as to what God is trying to say to you through that particular passage.
I was trying to illustrate for my family what the author of the book we are using for devotions meant when he said that Lectio Divina meant of us to read through the passage, think through the passage, pray through the passage, and pray the passage back to God. The author was saying that we should try to imagine the original context of the verse; what did the original audience think of when they heard the letter of to the Romans for the first time? The Roman church consisted of Jewish immigrants to Rome and Gentiles who had heard and believed in Jesus Christ so this audience was mixed in its culture and understanding. The verse that we were focused on was Romans 12:1 and 2: “Therefore I urge your brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, and acceptable, and perfect.” Our devotions book said that we should try to imagine the scene and write down what we smell, and hear, and see. I wanted to demonstrate this for my family and this is what the Lord gave me that morning.
The Lord recalls to my memory the passage that we are looking at. Romans 12:1,2 He also brings back to mind Romans 1:1 which says: “Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus, Called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” The word bond-servant has through several people, in different locations, and at different times come up in conversation and in my reading over the last couple of weeks. The Lord tells me the word bond-servant ties directly into Romans 12:1, 2 and gives me this:
Imagine with me if you will, you are a slave on the beach along the Sea of Galilee. Your master is a mean, cruel, and vicious man, who works you sixteen, eighteen hours a day fishing, cleaning fish, repairing the boats, the nets, cleaning his house, preparing his meals, never giving you more than bare scraps to live on, treating you as property that he really doesn’t want. You are mending the nets barely able to smell the sea air or hear the waves. Your body is so sore from the beatings and the labor; your stomach is empty and you can’t remember the last time it was full. Just down the beach, you see another group of men, also fishermen tending their nets. It’s Simon and his brother Andrew, but there is another man calling them to shore. You reel in pain as you realize that you must have been daydreaming because your master has just kicked you again. He curses you for being slow and not working hard enough. You work faster but you can’t take your eyes off the man talking to Simon and Andrew. The wind carries parts of their conversation to you something about fishers of men. You wonder what that could mean as the Man, Simon, and Andrew start to walk together toward you and your master’s boat. Your master curses at you again and starts to whip you with the rigging from some of the nets. He screams at you that you should have already had these repaired. Then, the beating stops. You look up and the Man that had been talking to Simon and Andrew is standing over you and telling your master to stop; that no one should be treated this way. He tells your master his name is Jesus. You are dumbfounded; you have never heard anyone speak to your master like that. Then you hear the man say something even more incredible: He asks how much does your master want to buy you from him. You hear the cruel laughter of your master as he says you aren’t worth selling but at the same time he tells this Jesus that He can’t afford the price as he continues his laughter. This Jesus then continues the conversation, still with this determined look in His eye. You hear him say, “Name your price for this man,” pointing at you. Your master names some ungodly high price and your whole world starts to spin as Jesus pulls the bag from his belt and gives it to the master. Simon and Andrew help you to your feet. You can barely hear the waves let alone what Jesus is saying to you. He says “I haven’t bought you to keep you in bondage; you are free.” Did He just say that you are free? What does it mean to be free? You have no money; you have nowhere to go, nowhere to live. You ask Him, “What should I do? I do not know how to be free?” Jesus tells you, “I did not set you free to be alone or to die. Come to me if you are weary and heavy-laden; I can give you rest. Here take my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in my heart.” And so, your heart starts to slow and you begin to feel a peace come over you. You begin to hear the waves again and the seagulls over head. You smell the beach and the food that is being prepared over the fire. You ask Jesus, “let me be your bond-servant for I owe you everything and I have nothing.” Jesus then takes you to His door and pierces your ear to His door and you become His forever, Amen.
This is what it means to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
Deuteronomy 15:12 says, “If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. 13 “When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 “You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 “It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. A couple of weeks ago my family and I were having our family devotions. We are going through some curriculum that is refreshing us in the spiritual disciplines. Part of this refreshing is learning the practice of Lectio Divina; or divine reading. This is a process where you read the scripture, meditate on parts of the passage that God brings out of it, and pray for guidance as to what God is trying to say to you through that particular passage.
I was trying to illustrate for my family what the author of the book we are using for devotions meant when he said that Lectio Divina meant of us to read through the passage, think through the passage, pray through the passage, and pray the passage back to God. The author was saying that we should try to imagine the original context of the verse; what did the original audience think of when they heard the letter of to the Romans for the first time? The Roman church consisted of Jewish immigrants to Rome and Gentiles who had heard and believed in Jesus Christ so this audience was mixed in its culture and understanding. The verse that we were focused on was Romans 12:1 and 2: “Therefore I urge your brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, and acceptable, and perfect.” Our devotions book said that we should try to imagine the scene and write down what we smell, and hear, and see. I wanted to demonstrate this for my family and this is what the Lord gave me that morning.
The Lord recalls to my memory the passage that we are looking at. Romans 12:1,2 He also brings back to mind Romans 1:1 which says: “Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus, Called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” The word bond-servant has through several people, in different locations, and at different times come up in conversation and in my reading over the last couple of weeks. The Lord tells me the word bond-servant ties directly into Romans 12:1, 2 and gives me this:
Imagine with me if you will, you are a slave on the beach along the Sea of Galilee. Your master is a mean, cruel, and vicious man, who works you sixteen, eighteen hours a day fishing, cleaning fish, repairing the boats, the nets, cleaning his house, preparing his meals, never giving you more than bare scraps to live on, treating you as property that he really doesn’t want. You are mending the nets barely able to smell the sea air or hear the waves. Your body is so sore from the beatings and the labor; your stomach is empty and you can’t remember the last time it was full. Just down the beach, you see another group of men, also fishermen tending their nets. It’s Simon and his brother Andrew, but there is another man calling them to shore. You reel in pain as you realize that you must have been daydreaming because your master has just kicked you again. He curses you for being slow and not working hard enough. You work faster but you can’t take your eyes off the man talking to Simon and Andrew. The wind carries parts of their conversation to you something about fishers of men. You wonder what that could mean as the Man, Simon, and Andrew start to walk together toward you and your master’s boat. Your master curses at you again and starts to whip you with the rigging from some of the nets. He screams at you that you should have already had these repaired. Then, the beating stops. You look up and the Man that had been talking to Simon and Andrew is standing over you and telling your master to stop; that no one should be treated this way. He tells your master his name is Jesus. You are dumbfounded; you have never heard anyone speak to your master like that. Then you hear the man say something even more incredible: He asks how much does your master want to buy you from him. You hear the cruel laughter of your master as he says you aren’t worth selling but at the same time he tells this Jesus that He can’t afford the price as he continues his laughter. This Jesus then continues the conversation, still with this determined look in His eye. You hear him say, “Name your price for this man,” pointing at you. Your master names some ungodly high price and your whole world starts to spin as Jesus pulls the bag from his belt and gives it to the master. Simon and Andrew help you to your feet. You can barely hear the waves let alone what Jesus is saying to you. He says “I haven’t bought you to keep you in bondage; you are free.” Did He just say that you are free? What does it mean to be free? You have no money; you have nowhere to go, nowhere to live. You ask Him, “What should I do? I do not know how to be free?” Jesus tells you, “I did not set you free to be alone or to die. Come to me if you are weary and heavy-laden; I can give you rest. Here take my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in my heart.” And so, your heart starts to slow and you begin to feel a peace come over you. You begin to hear the waves again and the seagulls over head. You smell the beach and the food that is being prepared over the fire. You ask Jesus, “let me be your bond-servant for I owe you everything and I have nothing.” Jesus then takes you to His door and pierces your ear to His door and you become His forever, Amen.
This is what it means to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
