Advent Devotional

Romans 12: 9-21

My Nanny used to say, “It takes all kinds!”

Her frequent comment was the brightest beacon of tolerance that I can remember from my East Tennessee childhood.

She would also say, “If you act, as nice as you look, you will be O.K.“,
and repeatedly, “Thank God for Jesus!”

My Nanny, Sadie Schwartzman, was my “Paul”, long before I could read the Bible.
She was the ultimate cheerleader, life-coach, and prescriber of the skills that it takes to be a true Christian.

Some theologians have said that Paul was slight in stature, and although he was a great communicator through letters, he was an ineffective public speaker.
Thank God he wrote it all down!

In Romans, particularly, Paul is also the ultimate cheerleader, life-coach, and prescriber of the skills that it takes to be a true Christian.

As Christians, we all cannot be prophets or saints, or experience blindness and public conversion, even as much as we may be waiting and hoping for it. We all cannot be the eclectic, gifted Anne Lamott, and experience the tangible, crouching presence of Jesus in the corner of our bedroom. More often, we are simply the audience, the spectators, the seekers. At best, we are Christ’s disciples.

Romans 12:9-12 speaks to me as a member of that audience. The passage reminds me of all of the action verbs, of which I am capable, as a Christian.

I can: genuinely love, hate evil, honor others, be zealous, be ardent, be patient, persevere, rejoice, contribute, and extend my “self”. Be. We all can.

If each of us was created in God’s image, would not the collective “US” be the Image of God?

PRAYER: Thank you, God, for my unique abilities. Help me to be your disciple, and to graciously, and often, extend Paul’s action verbs to neighbor and stranger.

In Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.

Dee Raeside