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Hear the devotional read here: https://bit.ly/33ocb27 or here: https://soundcloud.com/evalverde/jesus-comes-to-us
5 Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy - every detail of life regulated by fine print! 6 But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story - no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, 7 no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. 8 So what exactly was Moses saying? The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. 9 Say the welcoming word to God - "Jesus is my Master" - embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. 10 With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!" 11 Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this - heart and soul - will ever regret it." 12 It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. 13 "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help." 14 But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? 15 And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God! (Romans 10:5-15 The Message)
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, this servant of Thine, and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Amen.
My college years taught me a lot. And some of it even inside a classroom. My second year at Lon Morris College, I had an international student as my roommate, from Pakistan. He was a very nice young man, devout to his faith and for the first few weeks of the semester even unrolled his prayer carpet and prayed as required by his faith. One of our suite mates had been a classmate of mine at Lanier Junior High and was heavily into Transcendental Meditation, I believe influenced by The Beatles and their trip to India to find the meaning of life. Our suite mate had traveled to Europe to receive a mantra and used it during his times of meditation. He had been taught that five minutes of deep meditation was equivalent to eight hours of sleep, and so he partied like there was no tomorrow, when the others of us were, or trying to, sleep. My roommate once noticed that our suite mate had been missing class and the reason why was that he slept while the others of us went to class. He thought it was hilarious and kept repeating, "Five minutes of meditation equals 8 hours sleep!" He could not stop laughing. The three of us had different and separate beliefs of getting to the places where we believed we needed to be. Allah, Maharishi Yogi, and Jesus, all claimed a better way to live. Of the three, I chose Jesus. I cannot do justice to the other two. I respect the right of those who choose to live and follow those ways, but I would love the opportunity to share Jesus with them.
The thing that stands out from this passage from the Apostle Paul is his knowledge that Jesus comes to us. Moses knew God and served Him and wrote the Law as directed; and those who tried, followed a "life regulated by fine print!" It served some well, others were lost forever for not realizing Who the Law stood for and the Love behind the Law. It wasn't until Jesus came to speak about the Law and to "fulfill the law," and to have followers like Paul speak the truth about it, that we began to realize that we can try all we want to find the better way, when all the while the truth was that Jesus came to us. My friend traveled thousands of miles to find the mantra, the word that would work for him as he meditated. My roommate traveled thousands of miles to come here to receive his education so he could return and strengthen his nation with his education. I was there to learn what I could about scripture and the gospel; and the truth was there in those pages in these words; "The word that save is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. Say the welcoming word to God - 'Jesus is my Master' - embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what He did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it....That's salvation." Hallelujah.
As Christian believers Paul says our job is to tell as many as we can about this new life, this fullness of life, as shown to us by Jesus and proclaimed by the likes of converts like Saul of Tarsus, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told the somebody who told you! Can you fathom that? That from a remote corner of the world, in an occupied country by Rome, to Europe, through ships to the New World, to wherever it was that perhaps some Sunday morning, a preacher spoke a word that hit you as truth and from that point on, you knew your life was now different and better. Whom have you told? Whom have you shown that there is a better way to live through your loving actions?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You. We cannot find the words to express the gratitude to express to You how You have given us life and purpose, like no one or anything else could do. Guide us and direct us so that we might be the people we need to be. Bless those who need this life and use us to bring them close to You; this we pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be a life blessing to someone today.
Receive my blessings of peace and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
