SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 3
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. [Ephesians 3:6] Paul reveals his mission here: he has been assigned the task of letting the Gentiles know that they too have a share in the unsearchable riches of Christ. God’s plan is that through the church, all people will hear the good news message of Jesus; Paul’s prayer is for people who hear, that their hearts would be open by the Spirit to understand and accept the message, so that they can experience the vastness of God’s love and power in Jesus.

Paul sees all people as God’s children in need of knowing God’s love. God is not just for the Jews, He desires to bless all people. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. [John 10:16] There is a clear mission stated here: I must bring them also! What Paul calls one body, Jesus calls one flock. Jesus is eager to get the message out; like Paul He desires for all people to experience the fullness of life in God: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. [John 10:10]

Lord, thank You for loving all people, and for making the sacrifice for everyone. I do sometimes wonder how Your love for all people fits with our understanding of election and predestination. But when I think as a father, and imagine what it must be like for a parent of someone guilty of a great crime, I can sense what it means for You to love all Your children, and Your desire for all of them to experience the fullness of Your love.

Lord, help me to see my mission as clearly, and with as much passion, as Paul. Help me to have the same clear urgency for the “other sheep”, and not rest content because my own family already knows You. Open the eyes of my heart to see and know You and Your love better, but also to see and know others and their need for Your love. I don’t know how to get them to believe, but like Paul I can speak, I can serve, and I can kneel. In the end it is not my power but Your power. You are able to do immeasureably more than all I imagine… so I am going to ask big!

CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You may strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that You may dwell in my hearts through faith. And that I, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.