May 19 Healed to Life

Ephesians 4:17-19 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
 
PAUL has been writing to the Gentiles to encourage them to be one with Jesus in the once church. Now he seems to have hard words against Gentiles. Has he had a sudden change of heart?
    The “Gentiles” here are people who are still outside Jesus’ one church. As Paul has used “Gentiles” throughout his life to refer to people who did not believe in Yahweh, the one God of the Jews, he now uses “Gentiles” in reference to people who do not believe in the one God, one Lord Jesus and one Holy Spirit. With this new reference to Gentiles, he is helping the former Gentiles see how God has changed them.
    He describes the changes in verses 19-20. See the “Gentile lifestyle” there. These are traits of people who live without one faith in one God, pursuing their desires. When we ask, “What’s wrong with the world. Why is there so much trouble?” a simple and eternal answer is, “People are not one with God.”
    Some will say this is a trite answer. The questions of world conflict need deeper and more thoughtful responses. But in loving truth, what else is there? Who else is there? Hear Peter’s words in Acts 4:10-12 “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
    Peter affirmed Jesus’ healing power to save – to save physically and to save spiritually. Jesus came to save the world from the evils Paul described and saw in the world around him. As one church, with one faith in one Lord, we must live under the one name – the Son of God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The world needs the Holy God to save us. It is as simple, as wide, high, long and deep as that.
 
Prayer: Father, we pray for the “Gentiles”, those in the world who deny you and live in evil ways. Come, Spirit, and heal their misery. Give them faith in Jesus. In his name, amen.