For a VIDEO of this devotion go HERE
Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity,
we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. Galatians 6:10 (NLT)
As Paul finishes his pastoral letter to the church at
Galatia he carefully lays out some pretty important guidelines for the young
believers in their work of being God’s people.
In the first 9 verses we find:
·
How to restore
sinful or fallen believers to fellowship
·
The importance of
sharing one another’s burdens
·
The case for
Biblical humility
·
How (and why) we
ought to mind our own business
·
Living
responsibly as Christ lived
·
Care and feeding
by the church for its ministers
·
The principles of
sowing and reaping
·
An encouragement
to persevere in all Christian living
In our verse this morning Paul puts a ribbon bow on
these and sums it up with an underlined reminder to be gracious to all, but particularly
other believers.
Elizabeth and I experienced that yesterday.
We went to worship with our Daughter and Son-in-law at
a local Presbyterian church. As we
walked in the foyer of the building we were greeted to a noisy group of
believers who really seemed to enjoy each other’s company.
Now, that isn’t a new concept for a lot of churches;
what warmed this preacher’s heart was the fact that more than a few of the
several hundred people there stopped what they were doing when they realized we
were new; they welcomed us.
One lady in particular was so welcoming she wanted to
know all about us. I smiled and leaned
in and whispered, we’re Methodists; we’re playing hooky today. She looked so seriously at me, slowly shaking
her head and said, ooohhhh, Methodists…..GOOD – we’ll roll out the red carpet!
I truly had a Laugh-Out-Loud moment.
Then we walked inside and I read the mission statement
of the church sprawled all across the front walls; it said:
The Mission
of Our Church is to savor the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and to be servants
of that grace locally and globally.[2]
The greeting in the hallway was simply a manifestation
of a church truly living –out that mission in simple relational ways to a local
stranger they’d never met before.
And with all the other welcoming and kind greetings we
were able to enjoy a most memorable worship experience. I felt like I landed in the middle of family.
And that’s the way it is so often.
Wherever I go, whether I know nobody or everybody in
the building, the Spirit of God is there, inhabiting people we meet, and it’s
like we’ve known each other all our lives.
It’s called the Spirit bearing witness.
For You Today
So…do you sit with the same people every week?
How about sitting next to someone else this weekend at
church?
Roll out the red carpet – you might make a new
Presbyterian friend.
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