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I used to think it was absurd that Peter denied Jesus three times. How could someone who had walked so closely with Him, witnessed His miracles, and heard His teachings, under pressure, say he did not know Him? That was until I realized that, many times, I have also denied Jesus. Perhaps not with words, but with choices, attitudes, omissions, and moments where I preferred to hide my faith.
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There are different ways to drift away from God. Sometimes, we do not realize we are getting lost. Other times, we know exactly where we are and, even so, we choose to walk away. Jesus revealed this difference through two stories that speak deeply about the heart of God: the lost sheep and the prodigal son.
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In the beginning, when God created the world and everything in it, He also laid the foundation for righteous living. He is infinite wisdom himself and recognizes the importance of us living according to His righteousness. What are? “Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Deuteronomy 16:20 Justice means the quality of who has a just behavior or treatment. It is a way of perceiving, evaluating what is right, just. Righteousness has a close meaning. It means quality, characteristic or attribute of what or who is upright. The virtue of following, without deviation, the direction indicated by the sense of justice, by equity. Virtue of being in conformity with reason, with duty. Justice and righteousness are very necessary traits. We can see their importance being expressed since the first books of the bible by great prophets and leaders. Just like god “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Love and faithfulness go before you.” Psalm 89:14 Throughout the biblical texts, we find in the nature of God teachings, through words and actions, about justice and righteousness. And He invites us to express His glory, to be […]
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Gratitude is also a type of worship. Being grateful and worshiping the Lord are natural responses of a heart that lives in His love. They are common actions of someone who loves the Father and His Kingdom. Love that drives “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.” Psalm 92:1-2 When we understand the size and beauty of God’s love and grace, it is natural for our hearts to overflow with love. This is praising God, expressing in words and actions how wonderful He is in every detail. We are loved unconditionally and that alone should be a reason to be grateful for the rest of our lives. But many times we stagnate by knowing that we are loved unconditionally. However, I want to tell you that this love does not exist to stop us. We need to evolve into thinking that if God loves us unconditionally, we need to move in that love. Really, this love is not a bargaining chip, it does not exist based on what we do or fail to do. His main goal is for you to move knowing […]
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I want to talk to you today about the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. That’s how God demonstrated on the cross how he loves us. He calls us to act in this way towards one another as well. What have you valued? “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 6:14 In this passage from Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us about the importance of releasing forgiveness. He underscores in that sentence how the forgiveness we offer others is linked to the forgiveness we receive from Him. Forgiveness shouldn’t be a choice for us, it should already be one of our foundations. When we offer forgiveness we can experience the fullness of the Father’s forgiveness. We are not perfect, we all make mistakes at some point. We are often inflexible. When we demand of the people around us that they be perfect, we seem to erase from our minds the fact that we fail too. To forgive is to say that we value the relationship and communion more than the pain and anguish that exist in pride. Beloved in failure “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just […]
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For a long time I had doubts about the difference between gifts and fruits. And the meaning is so deep and beautiful. When we understand this difference, we feel part of something and it fills us with hope and identity. A good soil “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” Matthew 12:33 What God does and pours out to us concerns the gift. Fruit is the result of what we do with the gift He has given us. If the gift is the seed that God gives, it says much more about the Lord. The fruit speaks more about the type of land in which that seed was deposited. That is, the fruit speaks about us. Everything we receive from Him must be used for the sake of the Kingdom. We are graced by Him so that we can serve each other better. Thus, we can build the path to His Kingdom in the best way. These seeds planted in our hearts, the gifts we receive from the Father’s grace, need to be watered and cultivated. Through the […]
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In the book of Daniel there are 2 very important passages, in chapters 3 and 6. One of them talks about when 3 men were thrown into a blazing furnace and the other talks about Daniel being thrown into a den of lions. The stories are different, but there is something in common in them that caught my attention… There was a 4th man “Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” Daniel 3:15 In the passage of Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar commanded that nations and peoples of all languages should prostrate themselves before the golden image that he had set up, when they heard the sound of the instruments. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not prostrate themselves before that image, for there was only one God whom they worshiped. Even knowing the risk they were taking, they didn’t go against their faith at any time. On the […]
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In times when we go through turmoil, if our minds are not connected to the Father, they will make us believe that we will be known by our pains. But that’s not what He promised us. Tagged “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.“ 1 Peter 2:9 “Is the glass half empty or half full?” Do you know this phrase? You can focus on your pain and you have complete freedom to do that, although it is a bad path to choose. Such decision can stop you and lead you to a place of stagnation. That’s not what God called you for. The situations He allows us to go through are not to stop us, but are to mark us. And that doesn’t mean that we will be marked by pain, but by a victorious passage through difficult times. Pointing to a miracle When Jesus was resurrected, He didn’t come back unscathed. His hands still had the nail marks. Christ went to meet His disciples when Thomas was not there. So the disciples told Thomas that Jesus had […]
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Last weekend, we went through the Easter holiday and honestly, it’s one of my favorite dates of the year. I like to reflect on what brought us to celebrate this very important date. How did it start? Easter started long before Jesus, actually the celebration started in the book of Exodus. Hebrews were slaves in Egypt and I believe you remember that God raised up Moses to free them. Before the Red Sea miracle happened, we know that the Lord sent the famous 10 plagues. We started with the waters that became blood, then the frogs, the lice, the flies, the plague in animals, boils, hail, the locusts, darkness over the land of Egypt and then the tenth plague: the death of the firstborn. God guided, through Moses, that each family of the people of Israel killed a lamb, male, just one year old, without defects, and spread the blood on the doorframes. That way, the firstborn of that house would not be harmed. The lamb delivered in place of the first born symbolized what would become the work and sacrifice of Christ, our Paschal lamb, delivered in our place. By Grace Today, we celebrate Easter because we are freed […]
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