8-18-2024

Good Morning All,

          Galatians 3:28; “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ.”

     Why is it that we always seem to look for the differences at first?  Why do we seek those things which we use to divide and separate?  It often starts out innocently enough: it is how we identify individuals.  We see Suzy as the short, blonde girl and Billy as the tall red head.  But all too soon we take those differences and use them to hold others down or try to push them back; all in an effort to get to the front.  So, we take those differences, and we begin to categorize people.  This group is greedy; this group is lazy, this group is selfish, this group is made up of criminals.  (I didn’t list who, but you probably filled in the blanks).  Instead of looking at what we have in common and trying to build on that, we build walls to keep some back from us or out of our sight or away from us. Make no mistake, this is the devil and our sinful nature at work. The devil wants us to separate, not unite. By separating, we lose sight of our God. We are alone, struggling to survive and seeing no hope, no help, no community, only individuals who we do not trust.

       Yet when God looks at people, He sees one thing, a sinful creature.  He sees a creature that he loves dearly, a creature that is unique and special to him. And this creature is lost and suffering every moment of every day. He sees his children, hurting and in need of his care. Before God we are all the same.  There is no difference; we are all sinners deserving eternal punishment, all sinners whom he chooses to redeem.  For by God’s grace, God sees only righteousness and holiness when He looks at His redeemed children.  All God sees is Christ’s atoning sacrifice.  He sees us as one in Christ, holy and undefiled.  We are not male or female, tall or short, fat, or skinny, black, brown, white, yellow, purple or orange; we are the redeemed children of God.  That is how God sees us and that is how we should see our fellow believer.  We are all the same.  We are forgiven sinners who live by God’s grace and mercy.  We are his redeemed children who God desires to live as his children, sharing the love that he has given to us to others. We are to be light in darkness, warmth in the cold, hope in a hopeless world, and the source of compassion in a broken creation. We need to tear down the walls we build and see what God sees, forgiven creatures.

Father in heaven, too often we let our sinful nature lead us into prejudice and suspicion.  Forgive us for our sin.  Guide us Lord to remove the walls and the barriers which we build between us and our fellow believers.  Cause us to see them as our brothers in Christ and to feel their pain and to share in their joy to your glory here on earth.  In Jesus’ precious Name we pray, Amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret