EPHESIANS EXTRA #8

AN INSTRUMENT OF YOUR PEACE

The Apostle Paul was writing to the church at Ephesus, a group of Gentile believers. The Jews, rather than remembering that through them all nations were to be blessed, shunned any nation, people, or person who were not Jewish. Gentile converts to Judaism could only go into the “Court of the Gentiles” in the Temple at Jerusalem. Jewish men could go further in past a barrier wall constructed to keep Gentiles out. There was great enmity between the two groups. Paul’s message that Jesus came to bring peace and unite His Jewish and Gentile followers into one cohesive body of believers was astonishing to his first readers.

Today, we have other barriers that can separate Christians into factions or cliques if we let them. Barriers of race, socio-economic levels, and most recently politics. Paul taught that believers are to seek unity and peace with each other. We must lay aside the things that divide us and focus on the One who unites us—the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus prayed that we would be one just as He and the Father are one (John 17:21). The God-head—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are not fighting with each other. Jesus wants us to be at peace within the “familyship” of God.

Father, we echo the prayer of Jesus that You would make us one. Help us to put down our differences and seek unity in the body of Christ. Help us to guard our tongues and never use them to lash out at another believer. As Saint Francis of Assisi prayed, “Make me an instrument of Thy peace.”