Loving God, bless and protect the life and needs of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Romans 8: 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! 18 That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. 19 The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. 20 Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in 21 until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. 22 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. 23 These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. 24 That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. 25 But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. (The Message)
Several things led up to our having to move from our small town of Kingsville to Houston, Texas. Not all of them were pleasant nor what I would call good. In fact, it seemed like a harsh sentence received from a judge that forced us to move. I was 13 and didn't know any better. Dad has lost his good job and now if he wanted to provide for his family the only work he could find was in Houston. We moved to Houston in a '55 Chevrolet with all that would fit into the car being all we would take with us. There were five kids and Mom and Dad. That first couple of weeks saw us kids all crying for our beloved hometown. We quite didn't have the attitude that Paul says we should have about life. We were used to what we knew not to anything new. The sounds of a big city's emergency response vehicles were nothing like the old. The electronic wails of new sirens were intentional stimuli of fright; did I mention we lived on the emergency route to the Texas Medical Center for all downtown accidents? Yet, God was with us and our new church, our new schools, our new adventures prepared us for the wonderful lives we live now. Mom would say, "Things are going to get better" and they did.
What are you going through that seems difficult and impossible? Paul would say Christ is with us and if we're with Christ in the bad things just imagine what it going to be like in the great times yet ahead. And yes, even as we may face the end of life here, Paul would say, the best is yet to come. The great "Billy Graham of India, " the Reverend E. Stanley Jones stood in the pulpit during his 80s and declared to a congregation, "The next 25 years of my life are going to be the greatest ever!" Those governed by math may have not understood; those governed by faith did. Wha say you?
PRAYER: Lord, give me the expectant, joyous hope that nothing nor no one can match in all circumstances. I trust You and I know You are in complete and total control. Make me a blessing to You and Yours; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
