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1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, 6 including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A very happy Tuesday, dear Friend, the best gift of Christmas is the gift of love. No gift can compare or compete with the gift of God's love as shown in the birth of His Son, Jesus. For me, a close second was the love I discovered when I was in my internship year at El Mesias UMC in Mission, Texas. After what seemed months of pursuing this woman, whom I knew to be the love of my life, she had said yes to a date. And that date led to the rest of our courtship being a non-stop date of sorts. After school I would be at her house and she could not get rid of me. I knew Nellie was the one for me, and she told me I was the one for her. But it didn't become so serious as that Christmas Eve when I had to stay and be the narrator of the Christmas program and could not leave for Houston until that was over. The plan was that Nellie would fly up two days later to meet my parents. She walked me to my car and as I was about to drive off, she started crying. What? I had never had a girl cry for me and then it hit me, really hard; this girl loves me!
Has it hit you? That God really loves you? It hit Paul super hard, as he discovered his new found life's purpose in putting Christians behind bars was not his true life's calling. The man whom Paul thought he hated and wanted to get people to stop talking and praying about, Jesus, met Paul on the road, called him by name and asked him why he was doing what he was doing. And more than that, Jesus called him into ministry. The Good News of Christmas became the lifeblood of his life.
Paul writes about the good news as he had read them in the scriptures of the prophets, and how they understood all that was to happen in order for for all humanity to come to know God's love. He heard about God's grace, and the need to be apostles of Jesus; all in order to bring about the obedience of faith. We are called to be saints; grace is ours.
Let it be real; let it hit you. You matter to God. And nothing nor anyone can take that away from you!
PRAYER: Thank You, dear God, for Your love. Let me do something about it today. This is my prayer in Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Let God's love hit you today like never before!
Receive my blessing of peace and love!
Pastor Eradio Valverde
