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Hear here the narration: https://bit.ly/34V8l0T
8 Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. 9 The law code - don't sleep with another person's spouse, don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of - finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. 10 You can't go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love. 11 But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. 12 The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. 13 We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. 14 Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! (Romans 13:8-14 The Message)
A good Tuesday to you, dear Friend. I pray this finds you well. It leaves me feeling a little better, thus no ConCafe for Tuesday. Nellie and I arrived home yesterday and I went straight to bed, and about eleven o'clock pm I realized I had not written a devotional and Nellie ordered me back to sleep. Yes ma'am! Please pray for Eli Ryan Muñoz, whose bilirubin levels are still a bit high; he sees his doctor again tomorrow as a result of that. Pray for his Mom and Dad as well.
I teasingly tell our daughters from time to time, "You owe me a lot of money!" All in jest and completely with love. They've blessed our lives in ways that they may never know, and they owe me nothing: I however, feel I never did enough and still love to do what I can for them. And it's quite awesome to hear Paul say, Pay what you owe! You, as a believer, owe every one; every person you meet and know, a "huge debt of love." That's better than money! Way better. And more so, if you consider how many people are hungry to be loved. Paul is sharing what we may or may not know, that behind the law, the Ten Commandments, and all of the law, is love. Plain and simple. The love of God for His creation and the love His creation should have to one another, for that is what God expects from us. "You can't go wrong when you love others." And his math equation, "When you add everything in the law code (The Law), the sum total is love." And beyond that, Paul says, don't lose track of God in your life. The days, as strange as they are, are coming to an end, and God is still at work, expecting us to work as well, to bring onboard as many unsaved people as we can.
The other night I shared the story of Noah with our grandson, Liam. I told him how Noah and his family were given the task to gather a pair of every animal, seven pairs of the clean (edible) animals. We talked of what a task that was, but it was necessary; so is our task of bringing in as many of those who don't yet know the love of God, onboard God's Kingdom. "We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence...get out of bed and get dressed! (Yes, in a matter-of-speaking for pandemic persons in pajamas) Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!" Yes, amen.
The Apostle Paul was perhaps the busiest and most stressed disciple that ever lived, and he in an age without Zoom, cell phones, texts, email, hybrid cars, etc., and yet, he did the best he could and won an entire continent and more, for Jesus, with his very limited assets and resources. What's our excuse?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, for Thy healing touch upon us and those who need it, amen! For those who have yet to come to You, use us and bless us to reach them. May we never think we are not enough, or have enough; we have what You have provided, let us use it for Thy Glory. We ask that You remove our doubts, our sins, our faults, and empower us with what we need to better and more faithfully serve You; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Why not send an email of faith to someone you know could be blessed by it?
Receive my blessings of peace and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
