Merciful God, blessing upon blessing on the needs of this dear reader in all they may face today; in Christ Jesus' name I pray, amen.
First, my thanks to faithful long time reader J. D. Welch for designing some new banners for ConCafe and to my daughter Carli, who also designed some as well. I have plenty to choose from and today's is by Carli Valverde. Those who know the inside of churches will know where the background photo was taken. (Answer tomorrow!)
Our text comes from Philippians 3:1-14: 1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— 4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Jesus came to bring us life and that in abundance (Jn. 10:10). The joy of knowing Christ and the love that He has for you and me should make our journey of life a blessed one. Yet, you and I know we encounter challenges and setbacks even within the church. Paul's was more of a physical one for his new male converts to Christianity were being charged with the need to present themselves (at whatever age) for circumcision. The ones urging this believed this to be a necessary sign and step of their being part of God's Covenant. Paul knew better and warned his followers to stay away. The other night on the Documentary Channel I started to watch what I thought was a documentary on a Jewish comedian. It turned out to be quite serious. This man born of a Catholic mother and Jewish father was raised Catholic but later decided to convert to Judaism. He had been circumcised at birth and when told he needed to be circumcised he thought, "Great! I'm covered!" Wrong. He was told that that had been a medical procedure not a religious one so he had to undergo it one more time. What made the story even more agonizing is that he converted two more times within Judaism to other expressions of the faith and each required "new" circumcisions. I know this isn't the way to start a morning! But you get the picture Paul was facing.
Paul shares his pedigree and upbringing and says this counts for nothing when compared to what he gained in Christ Jesus. In meeting and accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior all things paled in comparison. The journey of faith from that point on became that which blessed his life and should be blessing ours. What we do every day should be a joy and a blessing to God and to God's creatures. Each day should bring a new opportunity to bless God by what we say, think, or do.
PRAYER: Loving God, what a joy to be Yours. What a blessing is ours when we surrender to Jesus and make Him our Lord and Savior. Help me to stay on course on on task for the things You have asked me to do. Let me live my life in a way that grows the Kingdom. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
