In the foundation of a believer's life, Jesus is the cornerstone. Peter says that Jesus is the "living Stone," and we are to be "building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life." In Jesus, we find life unlike that found in the world. Jesus spoke of an abundant life in John 10:10 where He summed up His life's purpose; "I have come that they may have life and that in abundance." The fullness of life as found in Jesus cannot be compared to any other life. In Christ Jesus we find the perspective of appreciation and gratitude towards all things. In Christ Jesus we find love unlike it is found in any other place, and the deepness of that love makes us unlike those who do not believe, but not for personal glory but for service and example. In Jesus we find a strength that will not shame us. In Jesus we will find a steadiness along life's rocky paths. In Jesus we find purpose for our own lives as we seek to live out a life that looks out for others and to help others. In Jesus we have come "from nothing to something, from being rejected to accepted."
In seminary, in the days before videos and the Internet, we had 16 mm film. You will remember that the guys from the AV department would wheel down a squeaky cart to the classroom and on it was the ancient projector (talk to your parents, kids) and two spools, one loaded with the film, threaded through the projector and onto the empty spool. The projector had a noise unlike any other and I can still hear it. The movie that day was about a boy badly burned in a house fire in which he lost all his family. He was forced to live on the streets of this Latin American country town. People would avoid him and children were scared of him because of the awful scarring on his face. It was a priest who saw him and came to him and held him. The film had no talking, it was all action. The priest leads him by the hand to a large mission outside of the town and the huge wooden doors open as the boy is brought into what we now can see is an orphanage. The children in the orphanage are at first reluctant to approach the boy but when signalled by the priest they all run and hug the boy. We finally get to see the boy's little face as it turns to the camera and we see a smile. That boy's life as capture on that film is the last verse of this passage; you and I have truly been brought from a nothing existence to a full life; from being rejected, unwanted and unseen, to being accepted, loved, and wanted.
In your life and in the life of your worship fellowship, make that the prayer for today, "Lord, send us those nobody else wants or sees, amen."
PRAYER: Loving God of all, thank You for wanting, accepting and loving me. Thank You for taking my life from having little to no meaning to a life filled with meaning and purpose. Thank You also for helping me to do the same with those who may come into my life. May my heart truly pray for You to send to my worship community those whom nobody else wants or sees. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
