Dec
11
Lose the Us vs. Them Attitude
Filed Under Daily Devotions
SCRIPTURE:
[Peter] said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with Gentiles or visit them. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” … While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. ~ Acts: 10:28, 44-45
OBSERVATION:
There were two distinct groups in Biblical times – the Jews and the Gentiles – and the two groups did not mix. The Jews were the chosen people of God and the Gentiles, well, they were not. Yet when Jesus came, it wasn’t about division. He came to serve EVERYONE – Jew, Gentile, rich, poor… in fact it almost seems He reached more towards the poor and the outcast than the rich and the well educated. Jesus came to break the barriers. He came to show the way to everyone, not just the Jews. Here, when the Holy Spirit came upon these Gentiles, the Jews were astonished, because this was so new to them – it was a concept they could not quite comprehend.
APPLICATION:
We develop groups early on in life. In elementary school, out on the playground, everyone didn’t play with everyone. You had the four square players, the sports players, the swingers (those who played on swings) and those who just sat and watched, longing to be a part of something. The groups move to the Jr High and then High School. In college, there’s just more people to make the groups bigger. We begin to view the world as us vs. them. We forget that Jesus came and died for ALL of us! We forget He came for the lost, the found, the rich, the poor, the good, the bad, the saintly, the evil… God created everyone (and everything). He came to give everyone a chance for redemption.
PRAYER:
Father, help me to see everyone as You do. Open my eyes and open my heart. Break my heart for what breaks Yours, give me compassion for the things You care for.