Living With One Another
Read: Galatians 3:23-29
Reflect
When I was 16 I was rear-ended by a convertible BMW. I was sitting behind the car at a stop sign. I thought the driver turned left. So, I inched forward while looking over my right shoulder for oncoming traffic, when I was jolted back. Clearly he decided not to go. He flew out of his car and came storming back to assess the damage. My heart raced. I knew it was my fault! I was digging for my insurance card when he came and pounded on my window. He told me there was no real damage, but that I needed to be more careful. I was really rattled by the whole incident.
Still shaking, I left for dinner at Chuys. I found my friends and started telling them the story, when a gentleman peeked over the top of the booth. My stomach dropped to my feet. Yes, it was the driver of the car I hit. I would have rather been any place but there with “that person.”
Have you ever wished you were anywhere, but with “that person?” Maybe you joined a baseball team, only to have “that person” show up. Maybe you joined a Bible Study, only to have “that person” in your group. Maybe at school, you see “that person’s” child in your child’s class. Don’t you just get that pit-in-your-stomach when you see them on your turf?
I think this is how the Jews must have felt when they found out that the Gentiles had access to the Father through Jesus. They were like, “Hey, I have been working so hard to keep the law and now you are telling me, “that person” can enter the kingdom of heaven? You have to be kidding me!” The Jews had to realize that we all fall short and that we all need God’s grace. The Jews needed Christ just as much as the Gentiles.
The hard thing about Christianity is that Christ died even for “that person.” The even harder thing is that he calls us, in the passage, to live in unity through Jesus Christ. What a huge task for this body of sinners saved by grace. It is only through Christ, for Christ, by Christ, and to the glory of Christ that we are able to function as a body of unique believers.
I have many “that persons” in my life, I hate to admit that, but I do! I hate to admit, even more, that I have been “that person” to many people, even people in this body.
Pray today that Christ would help us to live in unity with “that person” or “those people” in our lives, and give God the glory!
Leticia Morgan
Pray for elder Dick Voet, deacon Jim Gordon, our custodian Leonard, and last names “M” in our body.
