The instruction and encouragement of the scriptures were meant
to reveal the God of hope so that inspired by the living word we might abound
in what the God of hope is all about… which is hope, of course; but what kind
of hope? If the incarnation of God in the Christ is any indication of what the
God of hope is all about then there is nothing God will not do, nowhere God
will not go, to be reconciled to us so that reconciled to God we would be
reconciled to each other. Or in other words, “May the God of steadfastness and
encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another…” And again, “whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have
seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20) For this reason Christ became
the servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth and at the same time
became the mercy and hope of the Gentiles so that with one voice Jew and
Gentile would glorify God. Or as Paul will write to the law bound Galatians,
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female...” (Galatians
3:28) So if in Christ God has erased the dividing lines of race, status, and
gender might it be a safe bet that God’s brightest and best hope is that we
would do the same? Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
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