Good day dear friends. I ask special prayer for the jurisdictional conferences set to take place next week around the country. At most of these conferences, bishops will be elected to lead our conferences in the USA. This time of waiting can be an anxious one, so please pray for those of us (and our families) as we await the election days. We only ask that God's will be done to raise up those leaders who can best lead our denomination during the challenges and opportunities of these days. Thank you!
Our text for today comes from Ephesians 1: 3 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. 4 Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. 5 Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) 6 He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. 7 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people - free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! 8 He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, 9 letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, 10 a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. 11 It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, 12 part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.13 It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free - signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. 14 This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life. (The Message)
One of the things I remembering fearing about going to school was to have my name on the board. I'm old enough to have had both types of boards; the black and green ones. I remember the ominous black boards the best. And to have your name on that board meant trouble. I especially remember one day, in first grade (yes, I can remember that long ago!), a fellow first-grader was left in charge of the room while our teacher went somewhere. This kid was the biggest kid to begin with, but he had also been retained twice in the first grade (or so legend said), but I did not fear him. I don't remember the offense (how convenient of me!) but I got my name on the board. Oh, the fear that entered me! I knew that if I were disciplined at school, a report would follow me home where I feared another discipline from either my father or mother or both. This version of the Bible has Paul talking about those offenses we have "chalked up." My fear is that my grandchildren may not even know what chalk is, at least used in the school setting. We have huge chalk pieces for sidewalk art lying around our house, but the most our grandkids may see are the dry erase markers or images on slide presentations on screens or monitors.
The verse sums up the good news for all of us, "Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people - free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!" (v. 7). It was God's plan to include us in God's family and through the death of Jesus our Messiah, we would receive forgiveness and freedom from the guilt and burden of our sins. The blackboard of our sinfulness has been wiped clean; another image of those Mondays when the custodians of our school had not only wiped off the chalk markings, the boards seemed washed. Such is the record of our wrongdoings before God because of Jesus. The question is, are we living a life that tells the story of that wonderful act? Do our lives reflect the freedom we now have from the weight of our sins? If the answer is no, today is a day of decision and action; tell somebody!
PRAYER: Loving God, I and the person making this prayer their own, thank You for Jesus and Jesus' willingness to die for us. I thank You that through that death and our confession and repentance of our sins, we have been made free. May my life reflect that freedom in such a way that I can share the Good News with someone today. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
