Good day dear friends.
Our brother, O.C. Haley underwent a long surgery in San Antonio yesterday and we've been praying for his complete recovery.
We continue to study who our neighbors are, and so here is our study guide for today:
Thursday: Please turn to Revelation 7:9-12. Who is in that number that stands before the thone of God? Do you suppose in Heaven there will be a section for whites, browns, blacks, yellows, reds, Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc? Why or why not? Should we live our lives away from that commitment to God to love others as ourselves?
Here is that passage: Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" 11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
Did you choose to be born the way you were? Do you remember having a conversation with God prior to your conception and God asking you, "Would you like to be born white, brown, black, red, or yellow?" Neither do I. You and I were born just like we were without consultation. We couldn't even choose since we couldn't choose race, if we could be born rich! Yet, you and I were made in the image of God. Why then, do some folks hate other folks for the way they were born?
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday and we'll be studying how God acted on behalf of all who were present in Jerusalem to bring them His word in their language. There was not then, nor is there now, an "official" or "national" language for Christianity. God did not send forth His Holy Spirit speaking only English or Hebrew, or Spanish or Greek. God acted in a way that touched everyone! So, can you marvel at the fact that today's Bible verse speaks of a gathering in Heaven of "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages?" (v.9) This is the united nations in its purest form, united by their faith in Christ Jesus, reunited in the love that brought them fullness of life here and upon their death eternal life and eternal love. The passage shows a worship service (please note no distinction between traditional or contemporary!) where God is being worshiped and glorified, and the people present are blessed.
Someone once said if you look at babies in the nursery upon birth, all are beautiful. You take those same babies after a few months, and leave them to themselves and they will be loving and accepting of each other. But you remove them from each other and bring them together after the fifth grade in school, and some will already have hatred for the other simply because of what they've seen or heard from those who are raising them. Very few will call each other neighbor.
One of the most ugliest things I ever heard, I heard in seminary in a class, where we were discussing racism. One pastor-to-be said he would never want African Americans as his neighbor, unless it was "Beautiful Harvey Martin (a then-Dallas Cowboy player who was very popular in the city of Dallas)." It made me sick to my stomach to hear a man supposedly called by God to preach the Gospel to already have this distinction in his heart. I wondered whether he could indeed preach the Gospel in the way God intended. Sadly, this one incident was but only a minor one of a whole campus feeling of unrest and distrust among all races. I dropped out of seminary for a year.
Your attitude will determine your altitude someone once said. And it's true. If you have a loving, God-led, Spirit-filled attitude of love towards others, you will live a very long and happy life. If you decide to emphasize divisions between those different from you, your life will not be as blessed and as happy as God intended.
Let us today move away from divisions towards the unity offered to us in Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: Come, Loving God, to my heart and mind. Fill me with those thoughts that bless You and bring a blessing to me so that I might be a blessing to others. Forgive me for thoughts that have added to distrust and hatred, free me to love everyone. I pray in the name of He who loved me and others, Jesus my Lord. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
