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Listen to today's devotional: https://bit.ly/3mFKZmW
1 What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to. 2 But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him - and in seeing him, become like him. 3 All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own. 4 All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God's order. 5 Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. 6 No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They've got him all backwards. 7 So, my dear children, don't let anyone divert you from the truth. It's the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. (1 John 3:1-7 The Message Bible)
Happy Tuesday to our ConCafe Family! Praying God's blessings be with you during this day for you, dear friend, in ways that will amaze you and bless you.
What is your earliest recollection of feeling love? Was it something you learned from your mother? Father? Do you remember the first time you felt you loved someone? Your spouse? Your children? Do you remember feeling love from God? I suppose every single one of us would have a different way of describing or explaining love, maybe more so when it comes to explaining God's love. I don't remember the exact date, nor my exact age of my knowing that God loved me through Jesus Christ; I do know I was about 8 years old. It was on a Sunday, during a sermon in Spanish when the minister said we had to invite Jesus into our hearts, which I did, and Christ would come in, which He did. I never did grow wings or receive a halo, just the quiet and blessed assurance that Jesus was mine, and I was His. God became real, and so did His love. The more I understood Jesus' ministry and His passion and death, the power of resurrection blessed me with the solid notion that God did love me and had sent His Son to die for my sins. I was truly now, God's son. Jesus' mission was to find 12 men who would be His followers, and whom He could train to be witnesses of all that God wanted to do on the earth through their testimony and their service. And the more I know about the 12 the more blessed I am to know that not one of those original twelve ever grew wings or received halos on the earth. God took them warts and all; pimples and winkles, scars and blemishes. God knew their hearts, as He knows ours, and still He loves us and wants to work in us. Evidence the writing of one of them, John. He knew that this love from God was anything but ordinary; he called it a "marvelous love" from "the Father," so perfect and awesome that he writes, "Just look at ti - we're called children of God! That's who we really are." He knew enough to know that not all the world will run to us just because we say we are God's children; most, as John wrote, won't recognize us or even take us seriously, because they do not know Who He is. John celebrates that being God's children is but the starting point; what we will eventually will become is not yet known; but he's excited about it, and so should we be as well.
John knew and believed that God would come again; and in the meantime, we should live as those who know just how much we need Jesus in our lives. "Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in Him, and sin is not part of His program." In fact, John writes, If we live deeply in Jesus, practicing sin is not a part of who we are; we are the opposite, we seek to run away from sin and straight into the waiting arms of Jesus. The world and our enemy the devil know at least a million and one ways to get us off the path and away from the truth; it's up to us to live and act right, so much so they will see in us, our Messiah and Savior, who is righteous!
PRAYER: Loving Father, in Jesus we have found true love and acceptance; as we live out our lives, make us more and more aware of that so that we can tell and show others. May we be all about love, especially around those who do not yet know real love from God. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Show God's love to all people today in all ways!
Receive my blessings of love and joy,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
