I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, after all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.
Leo C. Rosten (1908-1997, Polish-born American political scientist)
Romans 12: 17, 18
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
What is Paul saying when he asks us to “do what is honorable in the eyes of others?” Let’s look in Phil 4:8-9 “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise, dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
So Paul is not saying that we are to please men, or do things that make others happy, but that we are to please God and show His Character in the way that we live daily. We are to seek moral excellence and purity in our lives, and Paul says that the way that we achieve that is to picture it, or to place it at the forefront of our lives and to dwell on God’s goals for our lives.
To dwell is to live there, to set up residence and put down roots in purity. We are not to do what others expect us to do in certain circumstances, but what God expects us to do in our everyday life decisions. Will you please everyone? No, and God is not asking us to do so. He wants us to live so that we can say to this lost world, just like Paul did, do what you have seen and heard in me, and God’s peace will be with you…God’s Blessing’s.
Pastor William
Leo C. Rosten (1908-1997, Polish-born American political scientist)
Romans 12: 17, 18
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
What is Paul saying when he asks us to “do what is honorable in the eyes of others?” Let’s look in Phil 4:8-9 “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise, dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
So Paul is not saying that we are to please men, or do things that make others happy, but that we are to please God and show His Character in the way that we live daily. We are to seek moral excellence and purity in our lives, and Paul says that the way that we achieve that is to picture it, or to place it at the forefront of our lives and to dwell on God’s goals for our lives.
To dwell is to live there, to set up residence and put down roots in purity. We are not to do what others expect us to do in certain circumstances, but what God expects us to do in our everyday life decisions. Will you please everyone? No, and God is not asking us to do so. He wants us to live so that we can say to this lost world, just like Paul did, do what you have seen and heard in me, and God’s peace will be with you…God’s Blessing’s.
Pastor William
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