God of new life, breathe into the life of this dear reader exactly what is needed for their life today. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Here is today's text from Romans 8:10-17, using The Message version of the Bible:
10 But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells - even though you still experience all the limitations of sin - you yourself experience life on God's terms. 11 It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! 12 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. 13 There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. 14 God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! 15 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" 16 God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. 17 And we know we are going to get what's coming to us - an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
Do you have friends with "refridgerator rights?" A "fridge friend?" One who, once he or she is inside, does not need your permission to go and open your fridge, help him/herself to leftovers or sandwich makings and then a cold beverage? I would suspect our list on those is very short, if any. We tend to limit those type of rights to immediate family. Does God have fridge rights to your life? Have you come to a new life on God's terms and not yours? Paul is stressing quite clearly that God does have fridge, oven, closet, drawer, nightstand, garage, et al, rights to your life. Once you've looked through your peephole and seen that it is God knocking on the door to your heart, if you let Him in, He has the run of your life's house. And you have the benefits and blessings of having the world's most important and powerful guest. Can you imagine life like that? I hope you would and move beyond just imagining and have it become real for you.
Our having repented of our sin is equal to our having died to a sinful way of life and coming to new life in Christ Jesus. That means we have not only invited God into our lives, but have made God the head of our life. Back when my dad still traveled, I can't explain it, but whenever he was in the house with us, I believe we all slept more soundly. The same was true for my Mom's visit and my mother-in-law's stays. Just having a person we loved and trusted, with more life experience than us made us know that hey, someone is "watching" over us and no harm will befall us! Talk about persons who had more than fridge rights to our homes.
Those times Nellie and I had moved to a new setting, with our parents visiting us, we loved showing them around what little we knew of our new town and attractions and enjoyed seeing life through their eyes and new experiences. As this version says, "It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next Papa/Mama?" So it is with God. As we have moved into a new dwelling of life in the Spirit, each day should be that adventure of newness, joy, peace, love and comfort, going and doing exactly what God wants and expects from us.
PRAYER: Dear God, I thank You for Your presence here in my life. I thank You for those precious memories of days past when dear loved ones could visit and stay with us. Stay with me and help me to enjoy this day as a precious gift. Help it truly be as I have just read, an adventurously expectant day. I ask and pray this in Christ Jesus' precious Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
