It is hard to believe that our summer break is over! Father, thank You for the blessing of doing the jobs I do so as to enjoy the opportunities of extended time with family!
Romans 15:1-13 (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the challenges in growing up in the environment I did was that I had to make new friends every few years. I’m not alone in this, for many ministers, as well as military families this is the norm. It seemed like I was regularly inserting myself into well-established social demographics. I stepped into groups comprised of children my age who had known each other most of their lives, and here I came, out of the blue, trying to fit in.
It was a challenge but, for me at least, it was not too stressful of an ordeal – I guess I am blessed with my dad’s gift of gab! Finding common ground always helped break the ice and move me along in relationships.
Another thing that grabbed my attention in today’s passage was the multiple passages of Scripture that the Apostle Paul quotes, showing that Gentiles (non-Jews) being a part of God’s plan wasn’t a last-minute addition to God’s plan. It wasn’t a “man, my people have really messed up my perfect plan and now it’s time for plan B” response on God’s part.
One of my oft-quoted passages of Scripture –a core passage of mine – is found in Ephesians 1:4,
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
Not one thing had been created, and our omniscient (all-knowing) God knew that instead of doing what He wanted us to do, we would do what we wanted to do, bringing sin into this world – placing a chasm between a holy God and ourselves. Despite that knowledge, He still created the world and placed us in it…but not without a plan of redemption for us. This passage in Ephesians 1 continues,
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. v5
It might be easy to believe these things if you were a part of God’s chosen people, the Jews. But if you were a Gentile, they made it very clear that you were not included. (Unfortunately, some Christians communicate the same idea to those outside the flock…) But know this, that was never God’s intent.
Four different times in today’s passage alone, God’s intent is made clear. Note too that these passages were not from Paul’s era – they were from the Old Testament! Paul quotes from the books of Psalms, Isaiah, and even Deuteronomy – the last one was exclaimed shortly after the new nation of Israel had been freed from their Egyptian captors!
We all have always been a part of God’s awesome plan of salvation. He has left nothing and no one out! We are a part of God’s wonderful family and as Paul says in verse 13,
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. NLT
Amen!
Sept 4th, 2023, Mon, 6:30 pm
