PULL
DOWN WALLS: Devotion for Thursday July 7, 2016
Text:
Ephesians 2:14 – 22
Memory
verse: v 14 – For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has
broken down the middle wall of separation.
Jesus Christ made peace by the sacrifice of Himself;
in every sense Christ was the Peace of the Gentiles, the author, centre, and
substance of their being at peace with God and of their union with the Jewish
believers in one church. It was never so before His coming into the world. Jews
hate Gentiles including their close neighbours and ‘relations,’ Samaritans. Christ also has
destroyed the barriers people built between themselves. Because these walls
have been removed, we can have real unity with people who are not like us. This
is true reconciliation.
Because of Christ’s death, we are now all one
(Ephesians 2:14); our hostility against each other has been put to death (Ephesians
2:16); we can all have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18);
we are no longer strangers or foreigners to God (Ephesians 2:19); and we are
all being built into a holy temple with Christ as our Chief Cornerstone (Ephesians
2:20, 21).
The middle wall of separation alludes to the
wall in the Jewish temple that separated the court of the Gentiles from the
holy place occupied by the Jews. A Gentile who was caught going beyond this
wall was killed (see Acts 21:28, 29). Today most of us Christians are still
building walls that Christ pulled down through segregation, despising others,
not reaching the unreached with the gospel of Christ, placing does and don’t which has resulted in people
neglecting one another in the church, etc. Can you mention some other ways we
still build walls? Instead of building bridges to link one another, we are
building wall and barriers. With walls the gospel cannot reach the unreached. We
should be like Christ in reconciling people to God (2 Corinthians 5:18) instead
of sending them away with our quirk character.
Food
for Thought: In
what ways are people building walls against fellow Christians and unbelievers?
Prayer: Lord God, I repent of my
actions which are barriers to people who want to repent and come to you.
NB: Do you have question about our Christian faith? Is there anything about Christianity bordering you? Why not ask your question? We offer counseling and answer questions online. You can also reach us on our Facebook page (My Daily Covenant with God devotional) and we will arrange a chat with you.
