“For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”              Romans 11:15 NIV

Here is a very important lesson to be learned. Frequently, we are called to achieve God’s purposes in ways which may seem contrary to His purposes. In biblical terms, we are called to walk by faith and not by sight, to walk in obedience to His Word, even when doing so seems contrary to God’s purposes. For example, how could one ever imagine that God’s promise to Abraham would be fulfilled by obeying God and putting his son to death as God commanded him (see Genesis 22)? Faith required Abraham to obey and to trust in God. God calls us to give up our lives to gain them, to take up our cross to serve Him. Obedience to God’s Word by faith may often seem inconsistent with what He has promised to accomplish, but God’s ways are often accomplished by the most unlikely means. The church has been commanded to “make disciples of every nation” (Matthew 28:18-20). This command necessitates evangelism, preaching the gospel (Romans 10:14-15). Often, there are those who place guilt on the believer by insisting that we obey the Lord’s command by doing what appears to be evangelistic. So, Christians are urged to do those things which on the surface seem to be evangelism. If Paul had done what appeared to be necessary to evangelize the Jews, he would have been aggressively pursuing Jewish evangelism. However, he did so by going to the synagogues and preaching Christ. He saw that his ministry to the Gentiles was playing a part in Jewish evangelism too even if it did not appear so. We must exercise our gifts and fulfil our ministry, even though it may not “look” spiritual or appear to be directly related to God’s purposes.

PRAYER THOUGHT

Lord, help us to exercise our gifts in fulfilling Your purposes.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Lord, help us to exercise our gifts and to fulfil the ministry You have called us to, even though it may not “look” spiritual or appear to be directly related to Your purposes. AMEN

INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)

Luke 22:47-53

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