Image from bible.com
Hear the devotional here: https://bit.ly/42G7LOS
View here: https://bit.ly/43z3e1T
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. 6 While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man--though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. 8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation. (Romans 5:1-11 Revised Standard Version)
A blessed and wonderful Tuesday, dear Reader. May the joy of the Lord be yours as you spend time in prayer for those who have asked prayers of us. We ask continued prayers for our brother John Lucas who continues to suffer from kidney stones. I spoke with John this afternoon and he was awaiting an appointment in the Seguin Hospital to get further relief from this ailment. Pray for Edith and all who are praying for him. Also, our prayers for Jeff Massie’s mom Viola Massie. She will be having surgery tomorrow to remove a melanoma from her leg. Please pray for a successful surgery and complete healing. Pray for each other, pray for the needs of the world, and pray for the Church.
We humans go through two serious periods of life; the I can't wait to be old period, and then the I don't want to be old period. We've known kids who are X-years old going on 40, and those who are in their older years going through their "Mid-life crisis." And in more serious terms we soon realize we must face maturity, in whatever terms you mean by it. I believe maturity to be when we come to have full realization of who we are and that we have come to the place where we can and do place full trust in ourselves only because we have come to know and trust God like never before. Paul calls it "peace with God through our" relationship in "Our lord Jesus Christ." Through that moment when we, like Matthew in last week's gospel lesson said yes to the Lord's "Follow me," and receive justification in Him. Ours is now a life of grace and a peace that allows us to rejoice in our hope of one day sharing the glory of God. And our peace as found in our maturity allows us to see beyond our suffering to the point we can rejoice in our sufferings. These sufferings can help us become more enduring towards life, and the Apostle says this endurance produces character. Character is unique to each individual meaning that how we think and how we act define our character. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ both our thoughts and actions should be those grounded in love and mercy towards others. Our character will help us share with others, the hope that we have found in God. And we know that hope can never disappoint, because hope comes from God's love, poured into our heartrs through the Holy Spirit which is also given to us.
As Paul turns his attention to the eternal he shares this key verse; "While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Paul had shared to him by Jesus the why behind this as he wrote, "But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." Jesus gave His life for us so that our justification could occur through His death, and also through that we are saved by Jesus' life. And not only that Paul continues, we rejoice in God through Jesus Christ who has now been reconciled with us.
The true maturation we should seek is the peace that comes from knowing that we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and we submit ourselves to being guided by His Holy Spirit towards the future. Ours is to complete that to which Jesus has called us. When Our Lord said to us, "Follow me," He shared what it was we are to do; and He will provice all we need to fulfill that.
PRAYER: Loving God, we surrender to You and we ask You guide us towards our being truly and fuly reconciled with You. Wipe out our past errors and faults, and make straight the path to which you have called us; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Start a joyful journey towards your full potential with Christ Jesus.
Receive my blessings of love and joy,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
