The Gift of Hope

Read Ephesians 2:11-3:13

Take a moment to stop here and reflect on who you were before Christ saved you. What were the motives and desires of your heart? What paths were you going down? Were you at peace with yourself? What was your hope?

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32

Paul talks about this being a great mystery of the faith that Gentiles and Jews are reconciled in the kingdom of Christ and together reconciled to God. This side of the resurrection it’s sometimes easy to forget what a mystery it is. Did you ever realize that before Christ was crucified there was a dividing wall of hostility? Not just between you and God (which I hope we emphasize), but even between you and being one of the chosen people of God. For Gentile believers in Yaweh at that time one would need look no further than the massive wall blocking off the court of the Gentiles from the Jewish courts in the temple at Jerusalem, where it would literally mean death if you were to try to cross. Gentiles were considered lesser in value than even women in Jewish culture; and women we know were not considered to have any great value, slightly above beasts. We were without hope, without God, and without the possibility of entering into fellowship. Then along comes Jesus abolishing in his own flesh the dividing wall of hostility. When Christ was hung on the cross with his arms spread wide, did his very posture of suffering and death display his call for all to come to him? God with his arms spread and even nailed wide for all to be received into the new kingdom. Paul says his purpose was to “create a new humanity from the two”. Christ by his blood and death made us equal, made us human in a new humanity of peace, with the Holy Spirit of God being the seal of its veracity. The Gentiles who could not even enter the old temple, by Christ’s sacrifice are a physical part of the new temple. We not only can approach God, we together are the very place he now dwells.

Devotional Singing is the practice of filling your mind with God’s word through song. This can be done alone or with others, but you should allow yourself space enough to connect yourself in your mind and your heart to the words you sing to God, think of it kind of like singing prayer. If you aren’t sure which words you should use, you can start with your favorite passage of scripture or a psalm and begin to sing it back to God.

Dear God, give us the words and melody that we may sing back to you the hope you have given us. Amen.