Thought for Monday 30 August

Ephesians 2:19 (New Living Translation)   So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. In my bible, certain passages within chapters have one or more headings that give you an idea of what the passage is about.  In Ephesians chapter 2, there are three of these headings, ‘Made alive with Christ’, ‘Oneness and Peace in Christ’ and ‘A Temple for the Lord’.  When you are presented with a single verse, it is almost impossible to get the meaning and relevance of the verse without reading the complete passage of which it is a part. When Paul is writing to the Christians in Ephesus, he is writing to people who come from a tradition of worshipping false Gods, man-made Gods in whom there is no basis of truth.  Prior to Christ, our God was seen by others as solely, the God of the Jews. When Paul had previously preached to the Ephesians, he made it clear that those who did not know the one true God through learning about and believing the life and works of Jesus Christ, were dead in their trespasses and sins of heart and life and that sin indeed resulted in the death of the soul. It worries me that today’s society makes it harder for people of all ages to hear about Jesus and learn about all we are told in the bible.  Christianity appears to be becoming something only engaged in by a relatively small percentage of the over 50’s or over 60’s in our Scottish communities (albeit with some exceptions).  Maybe we are becoming a people not too dissimilar to those Paul was writing to in this chapter all those years ago.  We all need to pray earnestly to our Saviour that this trend will change. Paul taught people in a strange land to recognise the sin in their lives but also preached ‘Good News’ in that belief in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit meant that these sins were forgiveable purely by the saving grace of a loving God.  This saving grace is not something that can be earned through good deeds or actions.  It is a gift from God that does not discriminate between Jews and non-Jews.  It is a free gift from God that provides salvation for sinners.  If we do not possess it, it is something we should urgently seek out. Prayer Heavenly Father, we thank you for the myriad of blessings you make available to us through belief in your Son, our Lord and Saviour.  We thank you for that amazing saving grace that is freely available to all who believe in you.  We pray for a revival in Christian teaching so that more will become aware and learn about this saving grace you offer.  We pray for Christianity to once again become highly visible and highly valued in society. Amen.