Loving God of mercy, be with the needs of this dear reader today; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Here is today's text from Romans 11:1-10:
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli'jah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." 4 But what is the divine reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Ba'al." 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, "God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." 9 And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and keep their backs forever bent."
Paul's question can easily apply to us or those we love: When does God finally give up on us? There are times we have committed such horrible actions against God or against God's creatures that we think we're no longer worthy of God's grace and mercy, but we're wrong. God never gives up on us! I know it's early in the morning, but that's the best news I've heard yet! For that reason I go straight from praying by my bed to my home study to The Upper Room devotional page online, to this devotional: I want the first news I hear to be from God. And in a book that contains the Gospel, I know I will find Good News!
Paul worried a lot for his people, the Jews. He knew they were not coming to faith in Christ as they should, and wondered (The Message version) "Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he'll have nothing more to do with them?" His response? "Hardly!" And then he lists that he himself is a Jew and God was using him. In the same way we could do that with our loved ones, asking that question and then saying, God is using me and I'm one of them!
God is using you, if you let Him. Your words, actions, and attitudes towards your loved ones will go further than any sermon. Your loved ones will begin to see that it is possible for God to be at work even in us, and will begin to seek out that joy and peace that only God can give.
PRAYER: Loving God as I pray I am thinking of those whom I love who have not yet come to full faith in You. May today be a starting day for me to live as I should and act as I should so that my actions would bless these dear to me and precious to You. May they come to faith is my prayer and I lift it up in Christ Jesus' precious Name, amen.
Have a great day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
