Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Equipping
the people of God
Shaji Thomas Jacob
Salem MTC, NY
5 In former generations this mystery was not made known to
humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit: 6 that
is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and
sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Paul
wrote to help his readers better understand the dimensions of God’s eternal
purpose and grace. One of Paul’s theme is that of unity – all Christians are
one family in Jesus, and they should act with love toward each other. The
Jewish community believed that salvation belonged to them who strictly followed
the testaments, but not the Gentiles. Paul clearly explains that the Gentiles
are included in the God’s plan of salvation. The mystery has been revealed to
the apostles, Paul has been charged to give this great news to the Gentiles and
explain to the churches their new role and identity. The Christ, the Jewish
Messiah, would die not only for the sins of His own people, but also for the
sins of people from every nation.
The
realization of this eternal purpose came through the life, death, resurrection,
and ascension of Jesus Christ, who came at the fullness of time. Jesus
is now our direct access to God. Coming to God through Jesus was God’s plan
from before the foundation of the world. This is the plan God made for us to
come to Him, and because it’s His own plan, we can have boldness and confidence
in coming to Him through Jesus.
Stewardship of God’s Grace: Paul refers his administration of
the word and salvation here, basically God’s plan in his life. What is God’s
stewardship of grace in our life. A stewardship is a trust, an accountability
to God for what He has given to us. Our prayer is that we will be faithful with
the stewardship of God, that he has given us. Everything what we have is a
gift from God, and all belongs to Him. We are committed to do what the Master
wants. We are accountable to all that the Master has given to us. You should
love yourself even with any limitation because you are specially or uniquely
created by God in His own image. Do not hide your talent and do not abuse your
talent because it’s a gift from God and use it accordingly.
In the
book Cat and Dog Theology, it is a fresh way of looking at your relationship
with God, the Bible, the world, and of course yourself. Cats may call you
‘Master’, but tend to live a self-centered life but on the other hand, Dogs are
eager to see and please their master. A dog may look at you and think, ‘You
feed me, you pet me, you shelter me and you love me’- You must be my God. On
the other hand, a cat can look at you and say, ‘You feed me, you pet me, you
shelter me and you love me’- I must be the God. They both look at the same
information, but because of their master-centered or self-centered attitudes,
they come to totally different conclusions.
In the same way, many Christians look at all that God has done for them, they use their prayer time to tell God what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. They verbally says ‘He is Master’ but treat Him like a well-wisher. If He doesn’t do accordingly, they complain. They think life is all about them and they use God to make them happy.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we adore You, we worship You, and glorify You. Lord, help us not to live for ourselves, but for Your greatest glory. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: