by Bill Seng “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.” ~Romans 1:14 When I was a student at Cleveland State University I took a course in Black Religion…or was it African American Religion? Either way, the premise of the class was obvious: culturally speaking, the African American culture contributes to the religious community in a unique way. It was either the first or second day of that class that my professor made the bold assertion that Jesus was probably black. “After all”, he insisted, “even Billy Graham said that Jesus probably had dark skin” (my professor also noted that Reverend Graham was unwilling to make the full-fledged statement that Jesus was black). What kind of silly, ridiculous, absurd, irrelevant, and uneducated question is this? What color was Jesus? Really? Granted, every ethnicity tends to have artistic portrayals of Jesus in which he takes upon physical characteristics of someone of their own nationality. But when we are honest with ourselves, Jesus was a Jew. This means he was an Israelite of the tribe of Judah. Frankly, most Jews that I know are lighter in complexion, but I have known some that are middle-brown in color as well. But once again, this is such a childish and elitist point to make. Why? For one it implies that Jesus’ race was the superior race and if we are the same race as Jesus, that makes us better than everyone else. But let’s look at the history of the Jewish people, the people from whom Jesus descended. Historically, the Jews were probably the most persecuted ethnic group of all-time. They have been enslaved, exiled to foreign lands, and have even been the victims of genocide. They have had it rough. Nonetheless, most of the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, which is quite ironic because people who were in no way related to Jesus ultimately ended up receiving him as their Savior. Acts 17:26 declares that God made all nations of one blood. If you recall my post from last week, I wrote on Jesus’ descent. Luke’s genealogy draws his human lineage back to Adam and divinely to God. Jesus, although he is our God, is our brother. This is because we all descended from Adam, who was a child of God so to speak. We all have a common ancestor in Adam and we are all created in the image of God. Jesus, being a descendant of Adam, is the savior of all mankind. Reverend Graham’s point in the sermon my professor cited, by the way, was that Christianity was not just a white man’s religion and that Jesus is the savior of all mankind, regardless of skin color. Back in the days when the book of Romans was written, Jews hated people who did not belong to Israel, and the Greeks, Romans, and most other nations hated the Jews. One of Jesus’ most famous parables, the parable of the Good Samaritan, depicts a scenario where a Jew had to depend on the selfless and non-discriminant love of a Samaritan, whom the Jews also hated, to tend to his wounds and bring him to safety. This Samaritan, whom the Jews hated, was what Jesus called a neighbor. In Christ we can put aside these foolish divisions. We are all of one blood and we can all share in one spirit as well, the Spirit of the Living God. It doesn’t matter how dark or light Jesus’ skin was. He died for all people regardless of skin color or nationality. We need to recognize those around us as brothers and sisters and long for their salvation so that they too might become members of the family of God. Today, there is much racial strife, but we must remember that God has torn down these man made barriers because he created each and every one of us in his image. No longer are we bound by silly “racial” alliances.
by Katie Erickson
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.” (Romans 1:8-14) Paul, the author of Romans who I discussed last week, starts off with something very important here: he thanks God for the people of the church in Rome, because of their great faith. Paul’s letters often mention his thankfulness for the people he is writing to (Ephesians 1:15-16, Colossians 1:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 1:3), but this instance is particularly interesting because Paul did not know the people of the church in Rome personally. He hadn’t founded that church as he had done many others, including Ephesus, Colossai, or Thessalonica. Paul shares that he remembers them -- these people he’s never personally met -- in his prayers at all times. How often do we do what Paul is writing about, and pray constantly for people we’ve never met? It’s so much easier for us to pray for people we know, or even friends or relatives of people we know. Even then, however, I know I personally have a difficult time of praying “constantly” or repeatedly as Paul says he is. Paul is very dedicated in his faith and in his prayer life, and he hopes that if it is God’s will he will one day be able to make the journey to Rome and meet these people he has been praying for. We see in this section that Paul has tried to get to the church in Rome, but it just hadn’t worked out. He’s not upset about that, since he knows it’s God’s will that he hasn’t gotten there yet. He doesn’t want to go simply for personal reasons or to be a tourist and see the sights, but he desires to visit the Roman church so that he “might have a harvest” among them, as with other Gentiles. Paul realizes that not everyone in that church community had fully accepted salvation through Jesus Christ, and his desire is for that to happen and for everyone there to come to that saving knowledge and relationship with Jesus. It’s interesting that Paul specifically says that he desires a harvest among the Gentiles, rather than saying among the church. Salvation is not just for those who are a part of a church community, but for everyone! This is still true today. While being a part of a church community can help believers grow in their faith and become more mature by helping one another grow, it is not essential for salvation to happen. The saving message of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection is for all people, and that is the mission that Paul is obligated to. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Greek or a non-Greek, that message and the salvation it brings is for everyone. That is as true today as it was back then; ethnicity has nothing to do with the opportunity we all have for salvation. Are you praying, as Paul was, for people you’ve never met to receive salvation? We should desire that everyone on earth be able to experience the joy of having relationship with Jesus, since there are no restrictions on that. What are you doing to further this mission in the world today?
by Ami Samuels
The Christmas decorations are packed away for another year and the outdoor lights are down. Christmas 2014 is behind us. Reflecting on Christmas, we have celebrated the gift of Jesus’ birth, and we have spent countless hours searching for, purchasing, and wrapping gifts for our family and friends. There certainly has been a great deal of focus on gifts the past few months.
As I was looking ahead to 2015 I started to think about sharing the gift of Jesus’ love in the new year. What gift will you share with others this year? We all have unique talents and gifts. Maybe you are an accomplished baker, teacher, singer, seamstress, mechanic, handyman, craftsman, or encourager. How will you use your abilities to serve others in this New Year? Romans 12:6-8 says. ”We have different gifts, according to the grace given to us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, then do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
My mom was an encourager. Her gift was sending cards. Whenever we went shopping with mom we knew she would spend most of her time in the store buying cards for others. She sent people birthday cards, sympathy cards, wedding and anniversary cards, and cards that simply said, “Thinking of you.”
When my family moved away from Robinson, Illinois, in 2001 my mom wanted to stay connected with my boys so she started sending them a card a week. She would include a hand written note, a piece of gum, a dollar each, and littlie inspirational clippings out of magazines. She would adorn the outside of the cards with stickers pertaining to the season of the year, or sports they were playing at the time. She made the cards special because she wanted the boys to know she was always thinking of them and missing them. She wanted them to feel special and to know that they were loved.
Mother Teresa said, “Do small things with great love.” I believe it will take all of us using all of our talents and gifts to minister to a hurting world for Jesus. Your talents and gifts may minister to someone that others may not have the opportunity to reach. It could be someone you work with, a neighbor, or a family member; we encounter people every day who are hurting, lonely, and don’t know Jesus. How can we use our abilities to reach a hurting world in 2015? How can we share Jesus’ love with them?
In 2015, unwrap your talents and gifts to bless and minister to others by looking for opportunities to serve those around us.
by Charlie Wolcott
Sun Tzu in The Art of War says: “Know your enemy and know yourself and in one hundred battles you will never be in peril.”
Every successful general in world history understands this statement extremely well. You cannot survive in a battle if you do not know who your enemy is, what personnel and equipment you are fighting against, who you are, or what you have at your disposal. You need to know your enemy’s strengths, his weaknesses, his assets, his goals, his reasons, his purposes, etc. You need to know yourself. You need to know your strengths, your weaknesses, your assets, your goals, your reasons, your purposes, etc. If you can get a handle on all these issues, you will never be in danger in the battles you fight. And this concept applies to so many different fields. It applies to government, it applies to politics, it applies to business, it applies to sports, and it also applies to our spiritual walks.
Our spiritual enemy comes in three forms: Satan and his minions, the worldly system, and our sinful “old nature.” Satan comes for the purpose of stealing, killing, and destroying. He is not just the enemy of God. He is the enemy of you. And even if you are not allied with God, he is still your enemy. Even if you are fighting alongside Satan, even if he is appearing to be your friend, he is your enemy and he has one goal for you: destruction. If he tricks you into sinning, he won’t have pity for you. He hates you with the purest hate you can imagine, and like The Joker in The Dark Knight, he sees you as expendable, and a tool to see the world burn.
Satan is a liar, a murderer. He has no truth in him. He will speak partial truths, but they will be out of context, misused, and twisted. Satan quoted Scripture too. He tempted Jesus to fulfill Scripture. That is what Jesus was set out to do: fulfill Scripture. But what Satan was doing was a misapplication. It was not in God’s timing, under God’s prompting, or in the context of which the quote was being used. He is a liar and deceiver and every time he speaks of Scripture and towards Scripture it will always be in the form of “Has God really said?” And he will use anyone he can, including those who profess to be Christians to push his agenda.
But Satan is also a defeated foe. He is very brilliant and he knows us and he knows Scripture far better than we could ever hope to, but he is a defeated foe. Jesus defeated him at the cross. The only power Satan has in your life is that which he has permission to have. There are times where like Job, God will allow Satan to harass us. But most of the time, when Satan messes with us, it is because we let him. He is very crafty in how he tricks us into “inviting” him in. But ultimately his power is broken and anyone who is under the authority of Christ can tell him where to go.
That is a very brief description of Satan. For more, check out blog posts by Bill Seng here and here. The worldly system is how this world thinks and acts, and our flesh is our sin that God is in process of working out. I’m not going to deal with that too much in this post. I will now turn to who we are, as Christians. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord, if you have not been born again, what I am about to share won’t apply to you. And if you have not been born again, I strongly long that you do - that you let Jesus do his work in you so that you can be equipped for the battle that you are in the middle of. Without swearing fealty to Christ, you can’t wear his armor, and you will be stuck in this battle armorless, weaponless, and very easy prey for the enemy.
So that being said, let us recognize who we are as born-again Christians. We are made in the image of God. We are not a mere “highly evolved animal.” We are a special creation, made in God’s image and with the unique ability to have an intimate relationship with him. That is what we are made for. But sin broke that function and we need God to repair it.
As Christians, we are called children of God. We are also called the Bride of Christ. God sits on the Throne. Jesus (who is also part of the Trinity and is God) is the King of Kings. This relationship makes us joint-heirs to the Throne of Heaven. That means because we bear the name of Jesus, we also bear his authority. But we must also understand the principle of authority. The Centurion got it. He bore the authority of Rome. What he said was as though the Emperor, Caesar himself, said it. But he only had that authority by submitting himself under Rome’s authority.
The same is true for us. We bear the authority of Christ himself, but only if we submit to his authority. James 4:7 says this: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee.” Most of us love to quote the second half of this verse, but we frequently forget the first half. If we want to be able to resist Satan and his wiles, we have to be submitted to the authority and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And we can know what Jesus would say and do by knowing Scripture. Not just the Gospels, but the entirety of Scripture. Everything in Scripture points to Christ. John 1:14 says the Word of God became flesh. Jesus is the fulfillment, the personification, the written Word represented in human form. If you want to know Jesus, know Scripture. If you want to understand Scripture, know Jesus. They complement each other and are from the same source (Word of God made flesh, and Word of God made text). Chew on that for a bit. It took me a while to work that one out.
To know yourself in this spiritual battle, you need to know who you are in Christ, and what your position in Christ is. You also need to know what equipment you have. I will get into that next week. I’ll address the Armor of God, and other weapons we have to fight in this spiritual battle. But today, take notice of who you are, where you are in this battle. Take note of who your enemy is. Where is he? What is he doing? What is he up to? Jesus knew what was up. Nehemiah knew what was up. I’ll explain what I mean by this later in this series. But first, we have to know our standard equipment: the Armor of God. That’s next.
by Steve Risner
God is really speaking to me about priorities. Many of my blog posts concern things that I, personally, am working through. My hope in writing about such things is that I'm not the only one dealing with it so maybe someone else can benefit as well. Exactly three days after I finished writing my post last week, A Year To Prioritize, our pastor preached a message on priorities. “Yes, Lord, I think I hear you knocking,” I said. Our pastor took a different approach than my writing from last week and got me to thinking. I decided another post would probably be beneficial—if not for you, then for me.
Thus begins our tale. The story goes that a professor was speaking to his philosophy class several years ago. He had at the front of the room a large jar and a variety of things he was going to place inside the jar—large rocks about 2 inches in size, gravel, and sand. Without a word, he places the 12 large rocks inside the jar until no more could fit. “Is the jar full?” he asked the class. The class confirmed it was, indeed, full. So he picked up a bag of gravel and began pouring it into the jar, breaking on occasion to shake the jar to settle the gravel. The gravel eventually filled in the empty spaces left between the larger rocks. “Is the jar full?” he asked a second time. With a bit of laughter, the students agreed that this time the jar was full this time. Now the professor picked up another bag—one full of sand—and began to scoop the sand into the jar. He did this until every visible space was obliterated. “I want you to recognize that this jar is your life. The larger rocks represent the truly important things in your life—family, health, God, whatever. These are the things that, if everything else was taken away, you would still have a meaningful life. The gravel is the other important things that matter to you in life—your job, your schooling or sports, that sort of thing. The sand is the stuff that is more or less material ‘stuff’ or the meaningless tasks you engage in. Pay close attention. If we were to first put the same amount of sand into an identical jar first, there would be no room for all the gravel and especially no room for the larger rocks.”
The point of this story is really simple and I'm sure you can identify with it. If we don't take care of the big things first, we'll never make room for them. As I stated in my post last week, we are such a distracted people. We have lights flashing and screens lit and devices buzzing to grab our attention all the time. We have games to play on the internet, our phones, our tablets, our TVs, and on the table. We can watch a video anywhere in the world, just about, and at any time we choose. We “pin” this and “#” that and “like” this and we lose sight of the big stuff. I feel many of us have filled our jars with sand so the gravel and the larger rocks are left in a heap somewhere else.
“Boy, I wish I'd tweeted just one more time,” is very likely not something many will say on their deathbeds. I know this because not 5 hours ago I sat with my brother-in-law, whose 33rd birthday is in February but his second battle with cancer seems it will end before then. When he and I sat and talked, he didn't tell me one more video game was the ticket or that another crazy night at the club would have completed his life. No. We talked about meaningful things—of being a good dad and investing in our kids. We talked about wrongs we'd done to each other and we made them right. We hugged and shared our love for each other. You see, priorities are exquisitely in focus when life's hourglass is dropping those last few precious bits of sand. No one yearns for the gravel or sand they had in their jar when life draws to a close. They reflect on the stones—the big ones that really mean something.
If you say that in 2015 getting closer to Jesus Christ is a big deal, I would suggest a few of those large stones should be reading His Word, a daily prayer time, and at least a weekly fellowship with other believers (that's going to church if you're not following). If your claim is to want to work on your relationship with your parents or someone else that is very important, there are certainly some large stones you can place in your jar before the gravel or sand that will help make that cultivation whole. If making sure you're as healthy as you can be is important, there are a few stones to place in your jar—eating right, not eating wrong, sleeping adequately, regular exercise, and stress relief. You can see just with these three important issues—your relationship with Christ, people, and yourself, you've got nearly all the stones in your jar taken care of. Once they're adequately placed in your jar, you can fill the jar with the lesser things that still are important, but not vital. You can decide what merits some of your time or money after you've taken care of these big things. Then, you can dump the sand in to your heart's content. But if you put the sand in first, you'll never fit all the big stones in at all.
Many of us, I fear, have our jars filled in reverse order. We say stuff like, “When I get the time...” or “When life slows down...” or “When I get the money...” but the truth is we're really saying that whatever I'm talking about is not as important as the stuff I'm currently doing. For example: “When I get free time in the day, I'll sit down in my room and pray” means you'll never do it unless you're in a crisis and it's your only option. But if you carve out the time and put it in the schedule, it'll get done. Then, if and when you have free time, you can fill it with the meaningless stuff you were doing before.
I hope this seems helpful to someone. Getting things in proper perspective is a job sometimes and, at least for a slow learner like myself, a job that often times needs repeated. Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom...” and I think we lose sight of that sometimes. All the other stuff will work out. Let's get 2015 off to a focused start. God bless you this year.
by Logan Ames
As 2015 is now under way and you’re just about a week into whatever “resolutions” you have set for yourself this year, what do you feel you are lacking at this point? As you are experiencing the difficulty in making significant changes in your life, what is it that you desperately need in order to accomplish your goals? I begin with these questions for you this year because let’s face it, we all feel like we need something. We rarely, if ever, wake up and say, “Everything is perfect for me and I don’t need a thing”. If you follow God and believe He is guiding your life, you may be thinking about what you need in order to do what He has called you to do. Even if you don’t follow God, you likely have some goals for this year that will require more than just your will, so you may spend time wishing you could just get what you need to start making things happen.
I’ve been thinking about how much we as a society want, crave, and even need POWER. We have a saying that “knowledge is power”, so many young people make the decision to take on many thousands of dollars in debt just for higher education. People who are blessed to have employment can’t be satisfied because they are always wanting that next promotion, and as I’ve seen it at my own workplace I am convinced it is more about the status and power of being “above” others than it is about the money. It’s one reason that I am so impressed by some of the leaders where I work who go against the grain and really seem to view their positions as opportunities to lead by service. Power is viewed as necessary in politics, as many in the country believe major changes will happen because Republicans now “control” the House and the Senate. Even in sports, teams and individual athletes want to overpower their opponents.
Think about how often we need power for daily routine tasks. I have a friend who was almost in tears over the fact that she may not have her phone for about a week because she uses it for all of her entertainment. Her phone is not charging properly and quickly runs out of power. When our phone or computer system at work loses power, it’s difficult to get any work done. And when an entire town loses power, as my home city of Findlay, Ohio did several years ago when we had a major windstorm that I believe was classified as a “land hurricane”, everyone flocks to those who have generators because we have forgotten how to exist without power!
We know we need some kind of power to accomplish God’s will and our goals for this year. The Apostle Paul knew this as well, but his idea of “power” was a little different than ours. In Romans 1:1-6, he sets the tone for his entire letter to the believers in Rome by explaining that the gospel he is called to share is about the Lord Jesus Christ, “who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead” (vv. 3-4). The Greek word for “power” in that passage is “dynamis”. This is where we get our English word “dynamite”. As a matter of fact, the majority of times that “power” is mentioned in the New Testament, it’s this word. The power of God is like dynamite! Jesus himself said his disciples would receive this power when they were given the Holy Spirit, and that it would propel them to do what they couldn’t do otherwise - be his witnesses all the way to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Here in the Romans passage, Paul is saying that it was the same dynamite power that appointed Jesus the Son of God by raising him from the dead. He is talking about the good news that this Jesus offers grace and power to even the Gentiles. But he doesn’t stop there.
In another one of Paul’s letters to a different group of believers, he declares that the dynamite power available to all believers from the Father is “the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:19b-20). In the context around these verses in Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul is longing and praying that the believers in Ephesus would KNOW this great power along with the hope they have in Christ. In other words, he wants them to know that no matter what they face in this world, they are packing the power of the Holy Spirit. And just in case they’ve forgotten what that power can do, he reminds them it’s the very same dynamite power that God the Father used to raise God in the flesh from the grave. It’s not just any power. It’s not the meaningless other forms of power we chase after that I mentioned above. Paul calls it “the incomparably great power for us who believe” (v. 19a).
Ladies and gentlemen, this is big news for 2015! If you are one who believes in Jesus Christ, accepts the free gift of salvation he offers, and follows him as Lord, you have power that is INCOMPARABLY great at your disposal! That means that no other power can truly come against it. No matter what struggles you are facing already in 2015 or what struggles will come against you, they can’t compare to the power that resurrects the Son of God!
Friends, the issue has never been that we don’t have this power. It’s been that we don’t KNOW we have it. That’s why I am moved by Paul’s words to the Ephesians. Paul’s knowledge of this power has transformed his life, but he recognizes that the Ephesian Christians may still be doubting it. Knowing this power isn’t about head knowledge or book knowledge. It’s about waking up each day and moving forward in confidence because of the power that goes before us to lead and also stands behind us to propel when needed. Like Paul, I long to KNOW this power and I long to see all believers KNOW it. The fact is, if you don’t believe and follow Jesus, you don’t have this power and you must soon realize you are fighting a losing battle. But if you do follow him, get ready to do absolutely anything that he asks of you this year. With his power, all obstacles will be overcome. Satan will try to convince you that the power simply isn’t there, but just remember it’s a lie from the losing side. I am pumped and ready to just get on with it! Are you?
by Bill Seng Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ~Romans 1:1-4 Jesus Christ, the descendant of David. We sometimes neglect the incredible genealogy of Jesus Christ (and almost rightfully so, because his father Joseph was not really his Father) but it was one of the most significant indicators in pointing to the Messiah. The Messiah had to be descended from the Tribe of Judah and a descendant of King David. There are many genealogies throughout the Bible but there are only two, namely the last two, which include Jesus. These genealogies are found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Nonetheless, the good student will notice that the two genealogies are actually different from one another. There are a few common ancestors mentioned, but there are a different number of generations represented and some names are absent from one another. Richard Dawkins attacked this point in his book the God Delusion, using it as clear case of the Bible contradicting itself. Remember, though, that Dawkins is not a Bible scholar and also keep in mind that every person has two parents. Luke, for instance, mentions that “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,” before entering into his detailed genealogy. So one genealogy probably represents Joseph’s lineage and the other one represents Mary’s. There are other credible explanations that I have come across in studying this topic, but let us allow this to suffice for now. What is more fascinating to me regarding the two New Testament genealogies is not the fact that they both show that Jesus was a descendant of David, or even Judah, but who each genealogy decides to ultimately trace Jesus’ descent from. Matthew’s gospel has a genealogy that traces back to Abraham, the grandfather of the patriarchs (the fathers of the tribes of Israel). It is believed that Matthew intended to reveal Jesus to the nation of Israel as their long awaited Messiah. His gospel is packed with citations of fulfilled prophecies, teachings, and traditions that would have been very familiar to the Israelites. Tracing Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Abraham showed the Israelites that Jesus’ claim that he was the Messiah was true and that its legitimacy could be traced all the way back to the father of their faith the came before the Law of Moses, Abraham. But Luke’s gospel paints a different picture than Matthew’s concerning Jesus’ genealogy. It is not contradictory, but complimentary. You see, Luke travelled a lot with the Apostle Paul. Most of the people they encountered and shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with were not Israelites. Sure, some were familiar with the Law of Moses, but to most of them hearing about the Messiah that was going to restore the nation of Israel back to its glory did not mean a whole lot. Their problem was that they were not royalty. Kings, queens, princes, and princesses were known to be descendants of the gods and it was well known that only the children of the gods could go to heaven. Everyone else was doomed to eternal misery. But Luke did not just go so far back to include the nation of Israel under the saving power of the Messiah’s ancestry; rather, he traced it all the way back to Adam, the first man to ever be created, and then refers to him as “the son of God,” for he had no earthly father. So Jesus was not just the Savior of the nation of Israel, but the Savior of the world. John expands on this hope for all people by clarifying, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Imagine being a Greek that has heard for the first time that your life has meaning. The gods, who were deviant, deceptive, and devilish, were wiped away by the compassion, provision, and grace of this foreign God who acknowledged that all people, by right, are his children, and that through the simple belief in his Son, you too could be adopted into God’s family. And yet, not only the nation of Israel, not only the Greeks, but the whole world has been extended the olive branch of peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Do not late hatred and biases from loving your neighbor no matter what your ethnicity. Jesus Christ came to save all people and that includes you.
