Taste and See: An All Saints Day Reflection

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1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Look to him, and be radiant, so your[a] faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor soul cried and was heard by the Lord and was saved from every trouble. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him. 9 O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear him have no want. 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:1-10; 22 NRSV)

Happy Thursday Friend!

Growing up in a Hispanic Church, I don't remember observing an All Saints Day. In those days anything that seemed too Catholic was forbidden in the Hispanic Protestant Church, especially in our Methodist Church. Sadly, in those days there was no love lost between Catholics and Protestants, but thankfully while I was a bit older and in elementary school none of the violence or vandalism was taking place like some churches along the border. Our All Saints Day was Mother's Day and Father's Day, as those were the days white carnation flowers were worn by those whose fathers/mothers had died, and red for those who still had them alive.

There’s a kind of person who seems to carry praise around like a pocket full of coins, ready to spend it at a moment’s notice. David sounds like that person at the start of this psalm: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” At all times. Not just on the good days, or when the prayer was answered, or when the bills were paid. That’s a bold claim, and it gets even more remarkable when you learn the backstory. Tradition ties this psalm to a moment when David was on the run, so desperate that he pretended to be insane in front of a foreign king just to escape with his life. And from that place, he writes a song of praise.

That tells us something important. Praise in the Bible isn’t a mood we wait to feel. It’s a decision we make, often in the middle of things we’d never choose. David isn’t pretending the hard stuff isn’t there. He’s simply choosing to magnify the Lord right alongside it.

That’s a fitting word for All Saints Day, when we remember the faithful who have gone before us. Think about the people you’ve loved who walked with God. Chances are, their lives were not trouble-free. They buried loved ones, faced illness, lived through lean years and lonely seasons. And yet, many of them somehow kept a song in their hearts. Psalm 34 helps us understand how. Their praise was never based on the absence of trouble. It was rooted in the presence of God.

Listen to what David says about his own story: “I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Notice he doesn’t say all his troubles vanished. He says he was delivered from his fears. That’s a gentle, honest distinction. God doesn’t always remove the storm, but He meets us in it and loosens fear’s grip on our hearts.

Then comes one of the most tender verses in the whole psalm: “Look to Him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.” Some of us have known people like that, whose faces seemed to glow with a peace that had nothing to do with how easy life was. Their radiance didn’t come from being polished or successful. It came from looking toward God. The saints we remember today probably didn’t know they were shining. They were just looking in the right direction.

David continues, “This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.” Here is an honest, unglamorous picture of a saint: a poor soul who cried out. That’s all. No title, no spiritual résumé. Just someone who called, and a God who listened. If you’ve ever worried that you aren’t spiritual enough to be heard, this verse is a quiet reassurance. The cry of the weary is exactly what God leans in to hear.

Then comes the invitation that gives this psalm its heartbeat: “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in Him.” Notice the verbs. Taste. See. David isn’t asking us to simply agree with a doctrine. He’s inviting us to experience God’s goodness for ourselves, to take a small, honest bite and find out. The saints we honor didn’t just know about God’s goodness. They tasted it, through answered prayers, through unexpected comfort, through the faithful love of the church, through the long, steady companionship of the Lord Himself.

And the psalm ends with a promise worth holding onto: “The Lord redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” That’s the hope the saints leaned on, and it’s the same hope that holds us. Those we miss are not forgotten. They are held. And so are we.

So today, in the middle of whatever you’re carrying, consider doing what David did. Choose, even in a small way, to bless the Lord. Let your gratitude for the saints turn into your own taste of His goodness.

PRAYER: Lord, we thank You for the faithful ones who have gone before us, and we ask that You teach us to bless You at all times and to take refuge in You, in Christ Jesus’ strong name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Before the day ends, speak aloud one specific way God has been good to you, and thank Him for a saint whose faith helped you taste and see that goodness.

I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Win the world for Jesus with showing love and helping to make new saints among the living!

Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.

A Crowd Too Big To Count!

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9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” 13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Revelation 7:9-17 NIV)

One of the highlights of my life in terms of my spiritual walk was when Nellie and a fine group of church members from Gonzales Methodist Church and I, were able to walk inside the cave at Patmos where John had the vision that was the Book of Revelation. There are many sacred spaces and places in this world, and this one ranks at the top. What made it extra special was the guide assigned to lead our group inside the cave, for he was a true believer in Jesus and every word he spoke he felt. He still felt the excitement many of us felt to be in that place where this passage was revealed to the old man in exile and he was able to write those words down to help us better understand the promises of Jesus; that life here does not end all life; there is another place, a better place where we will live with God.

Revelation can feel like a locked room. Dragons, trumpets, strange numbers, and symbols that leave many of us unsure where to begin. But every so often, John pulls back the curtain and shows us something so clear and so beautiful that we don’t need a decoder ring to be moved by it. Revelation 7 is one of those moments.

John looks up and sees “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Take a moment to picture it. Not a small gathering of the spiritually elite, but a crowd so vast that counting is impossible. Every language is represented. Every background, every culture, every corner of the earth. They are wearing white robes and holding palm branches, and together they cry out with one voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

That is the family we belong to. On All Saints Day, we often think of the saints we have personally known: a parent, a mentor, a friend whose faith shaped ours. Revelation 7 widens the lens. Those beloved people are part of something much larger, a gathering that stretches across centuries and continents, a family God has been building since the beginning. And one day, we will stand in that crowd too.

Then one of the elders asks John a question: “These in white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?” John wisely answers, “Sir, you know.” And the elder explains: “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Pause on that phrase. The saints are not people who sailed through life untouched. They came out of great tribulation. They knew illness, loss, loneliness, and fear. Some knew persecution. Their lives were hard, and some of them ended in ways that looked like defeat. But they made it home, not because they were flawless, but because their robes were washed in the blood of the Lamb. Their whiteness is not their own achievement. It’s a gift. That is good news for anyone who has ever felt too stained, too tired, or too imperfect to belong among God’s people.

And then comes one of the most tender passages in all of Scripture. “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Notice the picture of Jesus here. He is the Lamb, and yet He is also the Shepherd. The One who was sacrificed is the One who now guides His people gently to water. And notice what God does at the end: He wipes away every tear. Not a distant, impersonal act, but a close and personal one, like a parent kneeling down to comfort a child. If you carry grief today, and many of us do on All Saints Day, hear this promise. The God who gathered your loved ones home sees your tears too, and He has not forgotten them. The day is coming when sorrow itself will be undone.

So what do we do with this vision while we’re still here, still working, still sometimes weeping? We let it steady us. The saints before us walked through hard places with this same hope pulling them forward. We are not walking alone, and we are not walking toward nothing. We walk toward a throne, a Shepherd, a river of living water, and a crowd of people who are waiting to welcome us home.

PRAYER: Father, we thank You for the great multitude of saints gathered around Your throne, and we ask that You comfort us with the promise of that day, when every tear will be wiped away, in Christ’s strong name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Take a quiet moment today to name aloud a saint you miss, thank God for their life, and ask Him to give you the same hope that carried them through hard places.

I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Be a saint to all people by lving a life of unconditional love.

Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.

Already Children; Not Yet Finished

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1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3 NRS)

Happy Tuesday, Friend! Make it count! You matter to God so live in that manner; let the world see in you the love of God! How? By showing love to all people; responding graciously to all needs and not making it a big deal! You're making history in Heaven!

Did you ever wish, even for a split second, that you could be adopted by one of the world's richest families? (Forget what you know about them now, but thinking on the supposed access to money?). I just read that a retired NBA star has cut out his only son from all of his money. Was he being mean with his scion? No, he was reacting to the abuse the son was playing with his money. The son lost $23 million dollars in one night at a casino. He lost three mansions he owned around the world. He stole his mother's prized jewelry worth millions and sold them for $20,000! The most harmful part as his mother lay sick in a hospital with a serious health condition the son stayed away because he said he didn't care. That was the last straw and he's now out of the will. Okay, I mentioned several things many would love to have just one of. A mansion. A piece of costly jewelry. A million dollars. Thankfully, many of you already know those things are temporary and don't matter in the big picture of things; and many of you are already so rich in the precious things like love and acceptance, that having all those material things count for nothing. And you know that nothing can take the place of a good hug from one of your loved ones, or to hear whispered I-love-yous from people who have truly shown you that you matter. And in case you haven't, YOU matter to God, and YOU matter to me. And I love you! And this passage is all about that love that will never end.

There’s a moment in 1 John 3 where the writer seems to stop mid-thought, almost out of breath, and just says, “See what love the Father has given us.” Not “consider” or “keep in mind.” See. Look at this. It’s as if he’s pointing at something so astonishing that he can’t believe we’re walking past it.

And what is it? That we should be called children of God. Then he adds four quiet words that change everything: “and that is what we are.” Not that we might become God’s children if we get things right. Not that we’ll be adopted someday once we’ve proven ourselves. We are children of God right now, today, in whatever shape we’re in.

That’s a good word for All Saints Day. When we remember the saints, it’s tempting to picture a spiritual elite, people who reached a level of holiness the rest of us can only admire. But 1 John says something far more tender. The saints we remember were God’s children the same way we are, by love freely given. The grandmother who prayed through every hardship, the friend who kept the faith through long illness, the faithful ones whose names we whisper today: none of them earned their way in. They were loved into the family, and they lived like it.

John is honest, too, that being God’s child doesn’t always look impressive from the outside. “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” If you’ve ever felt out of step with the world because of your faith, or if the people you love have been misunderstood for following Christ, this verse offers a steadying thought. Being unrecognized by the world doesn’t mean being unknown by God. The same Father who knows His Son knows His children.

Then comes my favorite part: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” Notice that John calls his readers beloved, and he’s writing to real people with real struggles. He doesn’t pretend we’ve arrived. There is an honest “not yet” in this passage. We are children now, and we are still becoming. We still carry unfinished business, old habits, and sorrows that haven’t healed. All Saints Day holds both truths together. We remember those who have finished the race, and we are reminded that we’re still running ours.

And here is the hope that holds it all: “when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.” Think about that. The saints we miss are not lost. They have seen what we are still waiting to see. And the day is coming when all of God’s people will look into the face of Christ and find that He has finished the work He began in each of us. Grief is real, and so is this promise.

Finally, John says that everyone who has this hope in Him “purifies themselves, just as He is pure.” That might sound like pressure, but notice the order. Hope comes first, and purity follows. We don’t clean ourselves up to become God’s children. We live as God’s children, held by a future we can trust, and that hope gently draws us toward becoming who we already are. The saints lived that way, not perfectly, but hopefully, leaning toward the light they knew was coming.

So as you remember those who have gone before you, let their memory remind you of something even bigger: the love of the Father that held them is the same love holding you now.

PRAYER: Father, thank You for the love that calls us Your children, for the saints who showed us the way, and for the hope that one day we will see Christ face to face, in Christ’s strong name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Today, say your name aloud as a prayer, “I am a beloved child of God,” and then reach out to someone whose faith has shaped yours to let them know what they mean to you.

I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Live a life that shows that off!

Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.

Blessed Are Those Who Don't Look Like Winners

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5:1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:1-12 NIV)

Friend, a most marvelous of Mondays! May it be filled with mystery and marvel and mighty blessings of the Lord for you and all those around you! I am so thankful to have made yet another revolution around the sun accompanied by my precious granddaughter Eliana who shares this happy day with me. So, Happy Birthday Eliana! Prayers for me (again) as I received my long-awaited eyeglasses only to find they don't help at all! Sigh. I don't know why that is, but I hope to get in to see my eye surgeon soon to see if my vision changed or the eyeglasses company messed up. I need to be able to read my laptop computer to make my living and when the glasses don't help then it's frustrating! "Give me patience, Lord!"

When you hear the word “saint,” who comes to mind? Maybe a stained-glass figure with a golden halo, someone impossibly good who lived centuries ago. Or maybe, if you’re like many of us on All Saints Day, a name and a face come to mind that are much closer to home: a grandmother who prayed over every meal, a pastor who showed up at the hospital at 2 a.m., a friend who loved Jesus quietly and stubbornly until the very end. Or, a kind and quiet soul who blessed you when you went to see them in a depressing nursing home. This devotional gets us ready for this coming Sunday's All Saints Day celebrations that many churches will be having in their worship.

Those are the saints Matthew 5 has in mind. Jesus sees the crowds, climbs the mountainside, sits down as a teacher would, and begins what we call the Beatitudes. And right from the first line, He turns our expectations upside down. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Not the self-sufficient. Not the impressive. The poor in spirit, the ones who come to God with open, empty hands and say, “I can’t do this without You.”

Then He keeps going, and the list gets even more surprising. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. Read slowly, it sounds almost backward. These aren’t the people the world applauds. They’re the grieving, the gentle, the overlooked, the ones who keep choosing mercy when revenge would be easier.

And that’s exactly why this passage fits All Saints Day so well. The saints we remember today were rarely celebrated by the world’s standards. Many of them mourned deeply and still kept the faith. Some were gentle in a harsh world. Some hungered for justice and never saw it fully come. Some were mocked or even persecuted for following Christ, just as Jesus says in verses 10 through 12. Their lives weren’t marked by perfection. They were marked by dependence on God and a steady, sometimes weary, determination to keep following Him.

Notice, too, how many of these blessings are promises about what God will do. They will be comforted. They will inherit. They will be filled. They will see God. The Beatitudes aren’t a checklist for earning God’s favor. They’re a portrait of the kind of people God draws near to, and a promise that nothing about their faithfulness is wasted. If you’ve buried someone you love who walked with the Lord, there is real comfort here. The One who blessed them on this earth hasn’t forgotten them, and their story isn’t over.

There’s also a gentle invitation tucked inside this passage for those of us still on the journey. You may not feel like saint material. You may feel more poor in spirit than anything else, tired, grieving, or unsure of your own faith. Hear this: that’s precisely where Jesus says blessing begins. The saints who’ve gone before us didn’t start out polished. They were ordinary people who leaned on an extraordinary Savior, and now we’re the ones carrying the story forward.

Verse 12 gives us a final word of encouragement: “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We belong to a long line of faithful people. When we show mercy, make peace, or hold onto hope in a hard season, we’re walking a path worn smooth by those who came before us, and we’re leaving a trail for someone else to follow.

So today, give thanks for the saints in your life, the famous and the unknown. And ask Jesus to make you a little more like them: humble, merciful, and steady in love.

PRAYER: Lord, we thank You for the saints who have gone before us and ask that You shape us into humble, merciful, and faithful people who point others to You, in Christ’s strong name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Take a few minutes today to thank God for a saint who shaped your faith, and, if you can, write or speak a word of gratitude to someone who is carrying that legacy forward.

I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Let's win the world for Jesus with our unconditional love for all people!

Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.

Holy Towards Your Neighbor

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19:1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. 16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. 17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. 18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 NIV)

The late Dr. Billy Graham loved A&W Root Beer. His son said he bought them by the cases and would open several during the day. The son also said that throughout their home, Billy kept many Bibles open to different passages. Some would be on window sills, others on tables by comfortable reading chairs, some by his bedside; and one day the son asked, "Dad, how can you say you're reading the Bible if you only stop and sit and read for a few minutes then move on to the next Bible?" The dad replied, "Son, I sip on root beer all day long, and in the same way I sip from the Word of God with each verse I read; it brings me great joy and pleasure." We should be the same; making time to read as much as we can from the Bible each time we can and seek to grow with the teachings God's word brings to us. A very rude patient, odd name for rude impatient people waiting to see their healthcare provider, turned out to be an archeaologist who is flown in private jets all over the world for his work; only to have one of those providers ask, "What good does digging for biblical treasures if they don't rub off positive traits on him?" Indeed, and it's true for me. And for you maybe.

Here's a passage worth reading over and over from the overhearing we are doing to someone's private conversation between this person (Moses) and God! What can we learn from it?

Some Bible passages ease you in gently. Leviticus 19 does not. It opens with a sentence that stops you in your tracks: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” That’s the whole foundation. Before a single instruction about money, courts, or neighbors, God lays down the reason for everything that follows. You are called to be holy because of who He is.

It’s easy to hear the word “holy” and picture someone floating above the ordinary, perfectly pious and a little unreachable. But notice where this chapter takes the idea. Holiness here isn’t mainly about incense, robes, or religious performance. It shows up in the courtroom, in the way you talk about people, in how you handle a grudge. Holiness, according to Leviticus, is what God’s character looks like when it’s lived out in the ordinary mess of human relationships.

Take verse 15: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” That cuts in two directions, and both are worth sitting with. Most of us know we shouldn’t bow to the powerful, the wealthy, or the well-connected. But God also says not to show partiality to the poor. Fairness doesn’t mean siding automatically with whoever we feel sorry for or whoever shares our story. God’s justice isn’t swayed by status in either direction. He sees each person as they truly are, and He asks us to try to do the same.

Then verse 16 gets uncomfortably close to home: “Do not go about spreading slander among your people.” How many of us have passed along a little too much information, sharing a story that wasn’t ours to tell or a criticism that did more harm than good? Slander rarely feels like a big sin in the moment. It feels like conversation. But God takes seriously the way our words can wound, and He asks His people to be a safe place for one another’s reputations.

Verses 17 and 18 go even deeper, into the hidden places of the heart. “Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Notice that God cares about what happens inside us, not just what we do. Hatred that quietly simmers is still hatred. And notice the surprising kindness in the instruction to speak honestly with a neighbor who has wronged you. Silent resentment festers. Honest, loving conversation heals. God would rather we have a hard, gracious talk than carry a grudge for years.

That brings us to the line Jesus Himself would later call the second greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Here, at the end of a list about fairness, honesty, and forgiveness, is the heartbeat of it all. Loving our neighbor isn’t a vague warm feeling. It’s practical. It looks like treating people fairly, guarding their name, speaking truthfully, and letting go of the need to get even.

And then those three small words that close verse 18: “I am the Lord.” God doesn’t just give us rules and walk away. He reminds us who is asking. The One who calls us to holiness is the One who makes it possible, the One who loved us first and forgave us fully. We aren’t asked to be holy on our own strength. We’re invited to reflect the God who has already shown us what love looks like.

So as you move through today, perhaps ask yourself a gentle question: Where is God inviting me to be a little more fair, a little more careful with my words, or a little quicker to let go? That small step is what holiness looks like in everyday clothes.

PRAYER: Lord, make us holy as You are holy, and teach us to love our neighbors with fairness, truth, and a forgiving heart, in Christ’s strong name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Choose one grudge, careless word, or unfair judgment you’ve been holding onto, and take a concrete step today toward honesty, kindness, or reconciliation.

I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Reach out to all neighbors in love; so we can win the world for Jesus!

Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.

Tender As A Nursing Mother

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2 You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, 2 but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. 3 For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, 4 but, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals but to please God, who tests our hearts. 5 As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed, 6 nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, 7 though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. 8 So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. (1Thessalonians 2:1-8 NRS)

Friend, welcome to Thursday! It's a great day to be alive and active and working for the Lord! If you're not, come alive, get active and GET TO WORK! Vamonos! Get Fired Up! Say to yourself, "I'm ready to go!" Alrighty then!

Belen Flores. Leo Villarreal. Two names that touched my life at critical times and made an impact on my walk with Jesus. There's plenty more, but I thought of Sunday School during crucial times and these two names came to my heart. Belen was a longtime member of El Buen Pastor Methodist Church in Kingsville, and Leo a longtime member of El Buen Pastor United Methodist Church in Houston. Belen was a school teacher and Leo was a rocket scientist. Both loved the Lord and believed in Him. We just read Paul speaking of his own love and commitment to Christ and how much he loved what he did for Jesus. And he shares how important it is for us to share with others. The old saying, "Somebody told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told YOU!" Be a somebody in that line!

Think of the people who have shaped your faith the most. Chances are, it wasn’t the ones with the slickest presentation or the most impressive credentials. It was someone who showed up, stayed close, and made you feel genuinely cared for.

That’s what Paul is reminding the Thessalonians of in this passage. He, Silvanus, and Timothy had come to their city fresh from suffering and shameful treatment in Philippi. Paul says they found the courage in their God to declare the gospel to the Thessalonians in spite of great opposition. Imagine being bruised and weary, and still choosing to speak up because the message was too important to hold back. Just yesterday I got a call from a lifelong friend, daughter of a pastor, who asked if a pastor could excuse himself out of meetings where he was being disrespected. Yes! I shared how I had walked out of some charge conferences as a DS when I told the congregations they were not ready for a charge conference and to call me when they were ready. Yes, people wept.

Then Paul does something I find so refreshing. He tells them what their ministry was not. It did not spring from deceit or impure motives, and it was not trying to trick anyone. They were not trying to please mortals, but God, who tests our hearts. They never used words of flattery, and they never put on a mask of piety to cover greed. Paul says they didn’t seek praise from the people they served or from anyone else.

In a world of curated images and carefully managed reputations, that kind of honesty is striking. Paul wasn’t performing. He wasn’t building a platform. He was trusting that God already knew his heart, and that was enough.

And then comes the image that stops me every time. Though they could have made demands as apostles of Christ, Paul says they were gentle among the Thessalonians, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. Think about that. A nursing mother doesn’t lecture from a distance. She is close, patient, and attentive, giving of herself without keeping score. That’s the picture Paul paints of how the gospel was shared.

And look at where it leads. Paul says that because they cared so deeply, they were delighted to share with the Thessalonians not only the gospel of God but their own selves, because the people had become so dear to them. The message and the messenger belonged together. Good news was never meant to be handed over like a package. It is meant to be shared in the context of real relationship.

So here’s a gentle question to sit with today: how are you sharing what God has given you? Are you trying to be impressive, or are you being present? Are you after approval, or simply seeking to please the One who sees your heart? The people in your life may not need a perfect speech. They may just need someone who is tender, honest, and willing to share life along with the good news.

God has entrusted you with the gospel, and He has also placed particular people in your path who are dear to Him. Love them the way you have been loved.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, search my heart and purify my motives, and teach me to care for the people around me with the gentleness and honesty of Christ so that my life points them to You, in Jesus’ strong name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Today, set aside your agenda and give someone your undivided, gentle attention, sharing a little of your own life along with God’s love.

I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me! Whom can you touch with love and the Good News of Jesus?

Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.

The Hinge Everything Hangs On

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34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ 45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:34-46 NIV)

The teachers used to say, usually at the beginning of the school year, "There are no such thing as stupid or dumb questions." She usually meant we should ask questions; but we knew better for we had heard truly dumb and stupid questions. You're smiling because you know that too! And you've been in a setting when the professor or chairperson has outlined all that we need to conclude the meeting and someone will, inevitably, ask, "Did you mean that..." and makes the chairperson to once again repeat what he had just said and the meeting's conclusion is delayed for another ten minutes. You say, "I will make it to the restroom in time!"

Have you ever been asked a question that wasn’t really a question? You could tell the person wasn’t looking for an answer. They were looking for a gotcha.

That’s the scene in Matthew 22. The Sadducees have just been silenced, so the Pharisees regroup, and one of them, an expert in the law, steps forward to test Jesus. His question sounds sincere enough: which commandment is the greatest? With hundreds of laws to choose from, any answer might spark an argument.

But Jesus doesn’t dodge, and He doesn’t play the game. He takes them straight to the heart of it all: love the Lord your God with everything you are, heart, soul, and mind. Then He adds a second that is just like the first: love your neighbor as yourself. Every bit of the Law and the Prophets, He says, hangs on those two.

Picture a door hanging on its hinges. Take the hinges away, and the door is just a heavy slab leaning against a wall. These religious leaders knew the Scriptures backward and forward, but they had lost the hinge. They could recite the commands and still miss the One who gave them.

Then Jesus turns the tables with a question of His own: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is He?” They answer, “David’s.” Jesus presses further. If the Messiah is merely David’s son, why does David, speaking by the Spirit, call Him “Lord”? Matthew tells us no one could answer Him, and from that day on, no one dared ask Him another question.

Here’s what I find so inviting about this passage. The Pharisees came with questions to test Jesus. Jesus answered with questions that invite us to know Him. He is not only a descendant of David but David’s Lord, which means He isn’t just a teacher to evaluate. He is the King to love.

So today, maybe the question isn’t “What’s the minimum I need to do?” Maybe it’s “Where have I let love slip out of the center?” Have you been checking boxes with God instead of leaning into Him? Have you kept your neighbor at arm’s length while staying busy with spiritual things?

The good news is that Jesus doesn’t ask us to love in our own strength. He loved first, and He shows us how. Start there, with the One who is worthy of your whole heart, and watch how love for those around you begins to follow.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You are both my Savior and my King, so teach me to love You with all my heart, soul, and mind, and to love the people around me the way You have loved me. In Jesus’ strong name we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Today, do one intentional act of love for a neighbor, coworker, or family member, and let it be an offering to the Lord.

I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God and you matter to me. Be intentional in your love for all people.

Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.