God of all people and places, place this dear reader where You would for the doing of Your work today and all days. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
I shared with our Sunday school class about our ten month-old grandson, Liam's love for tackling the stairs in his aunt's house. Our daughter and husband had a two-story home built there in San Marcos and Liam's joy is to crawl up the stairs. His mom worried that Liam did not crawl as early as his cousin or on schedule, but I knew that he would get the hang of it and once he did, the world was his. And so it is. He loves to crawl and he's making attempts to stand on his own, so I know that walking will be next in due time and once he masters that, he'll really be a handful in keeping indoors and in one place. But for the time being, Liam loves the stairs. He's strong enough to push aside the little baby sofa of his cousin's that his mom places there as a barrier to the stairs and when supervised he begins to joyfully crawl up each stair as fast as he can. Each step brings his little grunts of joy and excitement as he knows he's accomplishing something. Of course Grandpa or Grandma have to be right behind him because we don't want him to fall backwards and injure himself, so off we crawl right behind him. Every step brings him closer to his goal.
Such should be our joy as we begin to look at Paul's Letter to the Romans, a sixteen chapter epistle written to believers in the captial city of the world. Many have said that a modern day equivalent to Rome is New York City. While New York City is not even the capital of the state, it is in many respects the capital of the world. It is the city that never sleeps, the "big apple," the city of a million lights, a marvelous city of tall buildings and millions of people. It has the advertising center of the world located thereon Madison Avenue; it has Wall Street, once truly the financial capital of the world; it has Broadway, capital city of shows and theatres; it has Central Park, the Statue of Liberty; and it will forever carry the reminder of the hatred some nations have towards us because of who and what we have become. The place is now called Ground Zero and it is a sacred memorial to the thousands who died there on that fateful day of September 11, 2001.
Rome had much of the same for its day and time. It also had a small, but growing group of Christians that had taken the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this capital city. We believe that Paul did not start the church there, but he very much wanted to visit and take God's word to them in a new way. His plans were to finish the task he was completing at the time, which we believe was the collection of the offering for the poor in Jerusalem. Once in Jerusalem, Paul was arrested, and he did arrive in Rome as a prisoner. His letter was to prepare the way for his arrival.
Please read verses one through seven for today:
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, 6 including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
As you read, ask yourself, how am I tied to Jesus Christ? Do I see myself as one of God's most trusted advisers? Or am I a servant for God? And as a result of that connection, what am I doing about it? Do I simply do all I can to learn and simply learn what is shared with me or do I put it in practice? Thus the difference between a disciple and an apostle. How do my friends, family and co-workers see Jesus in me? Do they know Him to be the Son of God and Savior of my life? Is there a holiness about me as I live and work among them? Do I portray the life of one who expects to be resurrected upon my death? Am I living as an obedient person to God? Am I called to be a saint?
PRAYER: Loving God as I pray, let these questions guide me in my answer and response; that I might truly live as Your person in Your setting. Grant me the power of Your Holy Spirit to live a life that is a witness to others. I ask this in Jesus Christ's precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
