Lent Devotional - Day 7
Read John 4:1-38
Are there people you do not associate with? Back in Jesus’ day, Jews did not associate with Samaritans. In thinking about racism which is still a hot topic in our days, It is interesting to note how God designed salvation. Even in our times, there’s a lot of anti-semitism, but as Jesus said, “for salvation is from the Jews.” Jesus is a Jew, so middle-eastern looking. He was poor, probably smelly and he came from a blue-collar family. Would you draw near to Jesus? Would you invite him to your house?
The diversity of the Church is not a flaw, but it is by design. It reveals God’s heart and plan for salvation that He always intended to include the whole world in his redemption strategy: people from every language, culture, and all walks of life. As a Christian, if your gatherings, friendship circles, and even your worship circles reflect only one culture, then you might be serving the wrong Jesus. You are worshipping not the Jesus of the Bible, but Jesus of your culture.
You can come up with any amount of excuses you would like for that, but the reality is that in heaven you will be worshipping with a very diverse family with very different styles of worship. The Samaritan woman began arguing with Jesus about worship, but Jesus made it clear that worship traditions are nothing because God is only looking for people who are worshipping him in Spirit and in truth.
The danger in our lives is that we try to make Jesus more like ourselves everyday. Somehow, his preferences and his styles, very much reflect our own. The Bible makes it clear however that we are to become more like Jesus everyday and our minds must be renewed to see and move towards heavenly things, so much so that even when we pray for our daily bread that we are no longer asking for food for our stomachs, but God allowing us and helping us to accomplish his will on a daily basis. Let us no longer be satisfied with our own full bellies, but let us hunger for his will to be done through us. Let us be more like Jesus today.