May the mumbling commence!
The doors of the Temple are flung wide open. Everyone is welcome to come. This is God’s home – not ours. Read from Second Chronicles chapter six:
"And when foreigners hear of you and your mighty
miracles, and they come from distant lands to worship your great name and to pray toward this Temple, then hear from heaven where you live, and grant
what they ask of you. Then all the
people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people
Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built bears your name.” (Verses 32-33)
Foreigners will hear.
They will come. They will
worship. And they will pray.
God will hear them.
We do not have a monopoly on God.
God is available to everyone who comes to Him humbly and reverently.
And it’s God welcome that foreign people need – not ours. We live in God’s land. Read from Second Chronicles chapter seven:
"As for you, if you follow me as your father, David, did and obey all
my commands, laws, and regulations, then I will not let anyone take away
your throne. This is the same promise I gave your father, David, when
I said, 'You will never fail to have a successor who rules over Israel.'
But if you abandon
me and disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and if you go and
worship other gods, then
I will uproot the people of Israel from this
land of mine that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I
have set apart to honor my name. I will make it a spectacle of contempt among
the nations. And though this Temple is
impressive now, it will become an appalling sight to all who pass by. They will
ask, 'Why has the Lord done such
terrible things to his land and to his Temple?' And the answer will be, 'Because his people abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who
brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead. That is why
he brought all these disasters upon them.'" (Verses 17-22)
Obey God and reap the benefits. Claim the promises that are conditional…
because some of the promises of the Lord are conditional. It’s kind of like you reap what you have sown.
Abandon God and disobey the Lord… then reap the consequences. Be driven from the land of plenty. It is God’s land after all. Disaster will fall.
And hopefully, disaster will turn us back to the
Lord. We can always come back to the
Lord. U-turns are allowed. Praise God!
Let’s remember these things and learn to welcome the foreigner
and stranger that come into our midst.
To preach the Good News of Christ to those who have not heard it before…
or have heard a distorted version of the gospel is an awesome task. Read from Romans chapter fifteen:
But now I have finished my work in these regions, and
after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I
will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little
while, you can send me on my way again.
But before I come, I must go down to Jerusalem to take a
gift to the Christians there. For you
see, the believers in Greece have eagerly taken up an offering for the
Christians in Jerusalem, who are going through such hard times. They were very glad to do this because they
feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the wonderful spiritual blessings
of the Good News from the Jewish Christians, they feel the least they can do in
return is help them financially. As soon
as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will
come to see you on my way to Spain.
And I am sure that when I come, Christ will give me a great blessing for
you. (Verses 23-29)
Paul is on his way to Spain – new territory for the Good
News. And the Gentiles that he has
already touched with the Good News of Jesus are sending their thanks to the
Jewish Christians. Paul is happily
delivering that gift of thanks.
So
should it be in our lives of worship and service!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
No comments:
Post a Comment