Spirit of the Most High, bless and protect this dear reader in all of today's challenges. In Christ Jesus, amen.
Here is today's text (and by the way, you may be getting this on Tuesday night and that's because I have no internet connection at the retreat center where I am attending a Stewardship event sponsored by the Texas Methodist Foundation, and I have borrowed their office computer! My thanks to the nice folks at Vintage Villas outside Austin!).
Romans 8:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Not guilty! Oh, the relief of hearing those words in a court of law. Now multiply that times an infinite number and you'll begin, I repeat, begin to understand how awesome it is to hear that said about you and me when it comes to our sinfulness. Not Guilty! You see, Paul says, we're living under a different law, not a law of sin and death, but a law of life, a law of the spirit of Christ Jesus. We talked about it being like leaving the old country of death and destruction and moving to a new country of life and freedom. This new life requires our being in Christ Jesus; that is to say Paul saw it as a way of life. Every morning along with the proper clothing we can put on Christ as He who guides our living and guides our day. If we dress with and like Christ, shouldn't we act as Him? The world needs to see Jesus alive and walking down the avenues of their lives. A large part of our discussion this afternoon centered and how the church has shifted from one time being the center of daily life to a corner off to the side where we no longer provide or are sought after for the answers of daily life challenges. I remembered the days when my pastor would get into the movie theatre for the same discount rate as a military person and my first trip to DisneyWorld as a college student I was surprised to see on their price list: Clergy/Military Discount. What a world it was then! Now most folks would rather charge the minister double to come in! What has not changed is that we as a church still offer the eternal answers that a temporal world does not want to hear. We offer He who died to defeat sin and death once and for all, for our sake.
So, if we belong to Christ Jesus, live like Him and show the world just what could be theirs as well.
PRAYER: Living God, help me to live a life that gives you honor and glory in all things. May I seek to abide in Christ and He in me. May this be for the blessing those around me need to see and receive. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
