God of peace and all nature, comfort, bless and protect the people of Japan during this crisis. Bless and protect this dear reader too; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Romans 4: 13 That famous promise God gave Abraham - that he and his children would possess the earth - was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. 14 If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal. 15 A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise - and God's promise at that - you can't break it. 16 This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father - that's reading the story backwards. He is our faith father. 17 We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. (The Message)
Entering by believing and trusting brought an eternal promise to Abraham. It was not by having kept a contract. Marriage is an expression of that belief and trust; love brings two together, trust and a hope for a great future together gets them to the altar and the blessings of a wonderful life together are theirs. Those who see marriage as an arrangement or something binding only by law miss the whole point and find themselves miserable. The Bible speaks of the final marriage in Revelation and the courtship began with Abraham's faith. Guess what, we're in that courtship too! God sought you out, wooed you, and through faith you have entered into that blessing and you're enjoying daily blessings of love, joy, peace, etc., because of faith not because of what you did or signed a contract to do. Abraham's example of trusting should be a model for our trust as well. Abraham also had faith not by what promised but simply because God sought him out.
Do you not think that you're worth being sought by God? You are. Not by what you've done or even in spite of what we've done that doesn't measure up, simply because God loves you and me.
PRAYER: Loving God, I need to hear of Your love always. Speak to me now gentle words of grace and peace. Let me seek to be Yours by trusting and believing. I pray this in Christ Jesus' powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
