Day 242: Faith is For Everyone

Galatians 3:26-29

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.  There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Let me first start off by saying that, no one, and I mean no one is excluded from God’s love. No one. Now that we’ve discussed that, let’s dive in a bit and talk about how faith is for everyone.

When we think about the Old Testament and the Law and how the Jews were God’s chosen people, you would think that anyone who wasn’t Jewish was excluded from the faith. You would think that God loved Jewish people more than anyone else, because they were His specially chosen people. When we think about it, God used a people to be set apart from the rest of the world and say, these are my people and this is how they will live. I believe it was to show that God’s people were set apart for the word. Actually the Hebrew word for “holy” means, to be set apart. So when God called the Jews to be holy He was calling them to be set apart from the rest of the world. Meaning obeying the law, and commandments, Obeying every detail in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, no matter how boring and repetitive it is reading them. Jewish people were living lives so completely different from the rest of the world that it made them stand out. It made them different from anyone else, because they were following commands directly from god. God has chosen a people to carry His word, to live out His commands and lead generations of people to Him. Anyone who was not living the way God had instructed the Jewish people to love were not considered people of God. They were Gentiles (non-Jewish people).

Now that we’re done with the little history lesson let’s take it back to the New Testament, when Jesus arrives. Jesus, a Jewish man Himself, comes to save all humanity, Seeing that He was Jewish He was obligated to obey the commands and the law, which He did, He did not come to destroy it but fulfill it. Jesus came to offer everyone a relationship with God, not just the Jewish people. Because of Jesus you no longer had to go through a priest to be forgiven of your sins. We had a direct connection with God.

Jesus came and united all people for one purpose, to serve god. He came and said, you weren’t born Jewish but you deserve salvation too, it doesn’t matter if your Greek, God loves you too. Oh, you’re a sinner, come to me, I can fix that. Jesus came and changed the game completely when He came looking at people’s hearts, and seeking their souls, instead of trying to figure out their bloodline, (plot twist: He already knows). It didn’t matter if they were Jewish, Gentile, slaves, sinners. None of that mattered anymore because god wanted His people, not just the chosen people of Israel. No, He wanted all of us, every single one of us. Which brings me to my main and perhaps only point I want to make today, faith is for everyone.

No one is excluded from Jesus, No one is denied access to God. We are all one in Christ Jesus, He loves us all the same. When Jesus came He did not show favor to the Jews, in fact He was harder on them. He came to let everyone know that it doesn’t matter who you are, there is room at the cross for you.

I want to you know that. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve been, Jesus wants you. I think a lot of times, for many different reason we feel like God doesn’t want us. We feel like we aren’t good enough or we’ve done too much. We feel unworthy of His love and grace. I want to let you know today that God loves you so much. He wants to have a relationship with you so bad that He sent His only son to die so that you could have a direct connection with Him. I know sometimes we feel unworthy when we think about how good God is, but He’s so good that He’s finds us worthy of His grace when we know we don’t deserve it.

All this to say, there is room for you in the house of the Lord. There is a specific spot waiting for you actually. We are all His children, no one is excluded  from that. We all have a seat at this table, even when we decide to give it up. It’s always open because Jesus is constantly interceding for us, and pulling us back. We always have  seat waiting waiting for us at our Heavenly Father’s table. This message will never get old or tired. No matter who you are, where you’ve been, or where you are at the moment, God loves you. He is waiting for you, standing there with open arms, He will not judge you, but He will shower you with gifts and grace. One day, it will be too late. None of us know what that day is, but let’s not try to wait and find out. Turn to Him today, make that decision.

Response /Prayer Time

Respond today however you feel led. Talk to God about what we discussed today, and have an honest conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and discuss it with someone. Come back tomorrow for Day 243!

Day 188: Whose Job Is It?

Galatians 6:2

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

John 15:12

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Proverbs 3:27

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.

Luke 3:11

John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

The big question today is, whose job is it to know when our neighbor is in need, and more importantly whose job is it to act on our brother or sister’s behalf?

Before answering that question I want you to refer to the scriptures above but also to the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

The statement that stands out to me the most in that passage is in verse 33. It says, But a Samaritan as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

Compassion - a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

The prefix com- means “with”, “together”, “in association”.

The thing about compassion is, it is about our feelings toward another person. It’s not about us, it’s when our heart breaks for someone else, or rejoices for another person. Compassion is not about us, it is about our neighbor.  With that being said, where is our compassion for one another? What happened to good Samaritans? I know there are many out there, we have to step up. All of us should be like this good Samaritan. We have let our communities be so divided, and the world is filled with so much hate that we are letting our brothers and sisters hurt and die because we don’t like them, or we don’t agree with their lifestyle or it’s not our problem or responsibility. If not ours whose responsibility is it? We have allowed our selfish judgements cloud our ability to be empathetic, and it is ridiculous.

It would be great to note that Jews and Samaritans in that time did not get along, like at all. This is a rivalry that dated back to times of Joseph, centuries have passed and this battle is still standing. We can assume that the hurt man was Jewish because he was traveling from Jerusalem. But it also great to note that a Jewish priest passed him by.

Here’s what happened in a nutshell. Israel divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria, the southern kingdom was captured by Babylon. Both kingdoms were taken into captivity. Jews in the northern Kingdom began to worship the idols brought over by the foreigners, along side God.  Seventy years later after being held in captivity,  a remnant of 43,000 was permitted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild. However the Samaritans who now inhabited the Northern kingdom ‘vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to re-establish the nation’. The full-blooded, monotheistic (serving one God) Jews detested mixed marriages and the worship of their northern cousins. For this reason the Jews and Samaritans have hated each other for centuries.

I tell you the backstory to all this because in the story of the Good Samaritan, he was not concerned that this man was a Jew and that he was supposed to be at battle with him. It didn’t matter because his compassion for this hurting man was more important, it didn’t matter that he was a samaritan. It mattered that he was a man that needed help. Which brings me back to my original question,  whose job is it to know when our neighbor is in need, and more importantly whose job is it to act on our brother or sister’s behalf? It is our job, it is our responsibility to be there for our brothers and sisters in need. To have the same compassion for others that Jesus has for us. It does not matter who the person is, what lifestyle they are living, or whether we like them or not, our compassion for others must be bigger than our differences. If we see someone in need it is our job to do what we can to help. There are too many people in need and hurting for us to walk pass and ignore it, or pretend we don’t see it. What if the shoe was on the other foot? We’d want someone to help us, The bible teaches us to treat others as we want to be treated.

Let’s get to the point where we hold so much compassion in our hearts for our neighbors. That’s how we will be united as a community. When our compassion for one another forces us to put our differences aside and be there, lend a helping hand. When our compassion for one another becomes bigger than our differences, that’s when we will start to make progress. We have to look away from ourselves and our own selfish desires and selfish rules and beliefs and see someone else. Compassion will unite us.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Talk to God about what we discussed today. Ask him to give you compassion for His people your neighbors, Talk to Him about putting those differences aside, whatever they may be, and be united with our brothers and sisters.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 189!