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11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11-22 NIV Bible)
Happy Tuesday ConCafe Family, and rich, special, unexpected blessings be yours, dear Friend. Join me in prayer today for Mrs. Deanie Ploeger as she battles her fight against cancer. Pray for Leslie her husband, and Paisley, their granddaughter, whom they have raised since a baby. Paisley's mom died a few years ago, and her grandmother's battle has not been easy for her. Pray for the pastors who visit and pray with those like Deanie, who need prayer and words of comfort and assurance; our pastors do too.
In 1965 when my family moved us to Houston, the world was different for us. We had left what we considered our paradise home to a strange, new land. What helped was that our former pastor from Kingsville and his wonderful family, were now the pastoral family of our new church. As I mentioned yesterday, both churches had the very same name, so there was no having to learn new church names. We went from what we joked were Kingsville traffic jams to the real, agonizing traffic jams of Houston. New church friends teasingly asked if we had seen the "spaghetti bowl." We were puzzled and wondered how special must this serving bowl be that people talk about it. They were, of course, joking about the downtown freeway interchange that from an aerial view was a spaghetti outlay of roads and bridges, overpasses, and the like. We moved into an apartment building that looked like it had once been a large home, but it was in fact built to house four families, two on each floor. We did not know that the real estate on which our entire block sat was prime real estate, multi-million dollar properties. We did know that directly across the street sat a sole house on an entire city block. The couple that lived in that house we knew only as The No Trespassing's. They must have been proud of that name because every few feet on that huge land they owned they displayed their name: No Trespassing! They were not friendly, and hardly came outside. They somehow had come to own all the block and must have been proud of that accomplishment. And not too far from where we lived, was a neighborhood that my brother and I happened upon one day that we took a walk exploring. I should mention our apartment was only 16 blocks from the Humble Building, at the time, the largest building in Texas. And not too far from there was Foley's flagship store where every Christmas they would go all out in making Christmas scenes like those one sees in Macy's or even Main Street Disney World. We would often take family walks from our home to Foley's and then back home. In our world, we were welcome to interact and live; across the street we were afraid to even step one foot on the NT's block. And, later we would find that neighborhood with huge mansion type homes had erected huge gates, locked, of course, and being family members to the No Trespassing's from our street! And they even put huge gates on both sidewalks of that street. We lucked out in visiting when we did, for now that was a forbidden world. For a child it's no big deal; but to wondering and wandering adults, those seem strange places to know about, for what they have inside their world is closed to the outside world. Years later, I had a practice of taking each of my girls with me on a plane to a meeting, so they could experience plane travel, as before a child turned two, they traveled free on a parent's lap. On one of those trips, we sat on the row behind First Class. My daughter got hungry and asked if we could eat. She began to smell food and saw that carts filled with food were coming down the aisle, only to see the curtain to first class closed, and she cried. "Why can't we eat what they're eating?"
Once, Paul says, you Gentiles were separate from the most wonderful thing in the world, Christ Jesus and His love. As Gentles, he writes, you could not hold citizenship in Israel nor could you be a part of "the covenants of the promise," meaning because of your birth, you were without hope and without God in the world. Not a good place to be in; nor die in. And had it not been for Jesus, we would still be "outsiders" and orphans; in fact, Paul says, Christ came to break down all barriers and to do away with divisions of hostility, seeking to make in Himself, a new humanity of peace. And He died a violent, painful death just to bring us peace. But thanks be to God, we now have access to the Father by one Spirit, and "we are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people", and members of His household! We share a foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. All this comes together to become a building joined together and stands tall as a holy temple in Christ Jesus. And in Him we are also being built together as a dwelling for God's Holy Spirit. And where God's Holy Spirit dwells, the only ones excluded are those who serve and believe in God's enemy.
The times are in desperate need of our living in that way and sharing of that way with those still outside the "walls" of salvation. Hostility is still very much alive and doing as much harm as it can, and we as Christians should speak out against it and live our lives as a testimony of what can be. In Christ we find our new identity: 1. My new identity in Christ brings me in as a full member of God's special people. 2. My new identity in Christ gets rid of all my excuses for being hostile. 3. My new identity in Christ Jesus gives me full and complete access to God. 4. My new identity in Christ makes me a unique and special part of God's living temple. In me, and those who live according to this new identity will be magnets to those still drifting out there lost. We become light to those stumbling in darkness, and we become the clear path to what can be in Him.
PRAYER: Loving God, help us to fully realize, accept, and live into this new identity. Forgive us for the times we have acted on our own and drifted further away from You. Pull us back towards You and Your special love. Set us on fire to live, proclaim and be the Gospel that others need to see; in Christ Jesus our Lord we pray, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Live the prayer for someone that we just prayed together!
Receive my blessings of hope, light, and love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
