Ephesians 2 - Steve Wiggins Daily Devotional

“So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of G_d’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Messiah Yeshua, Himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is being fitted together in Him and is growing into a holy sanctuary in the L_rd, in whom you also are being built together for G_d’s dwelling in the Ruach (Spirit).” Ephesians 2: 19-22

I really love our Messianic congregation. Every week, folks of varied ethnic, economic and educational backgrounds come in and worship the L_rd together. I love it when people, who would otherwise never mingle, come together in close community simply to seek G_d. Most of us know Yeshua in a saving way, and I pray the rest will know His salvation, soon!

I didn’t grow up in a culture that easily embraced unity, even for the sake of the Gospel. I grew up in the Southern U.S., towards the end of an era of horrible racial division. I recall an instance when I was a fifth grader in Mississippi. On the way to school, my school bus pulled to the side of the road. The door opened and a member of the Ku Klux Klan…in full robe & hood, boarded our bus and passed out “hate literature”. You see, we were “white” kids being bussed to schools in “black” neighborhoods. That enraged an unsavory element in the backwoods culture.

A sick irony of the KKK is how they use the “cross” as their central icon, albeit a burning one. The argument that Yeshua loves all people, regardless of race, is lost on them and their actions & values are by no means “Christian”.

From reading the Bible, we understand that Yeshua would never endorse the agenda of a group like the Klan! The same goes for the actions of the Nazis, medieval Crusaders, or Spanish Inquisition. While each of these “hate groups” claimed to speak on behalf of G_d, their agendas simply couldn’t jive with the life and teachings of Yeshua.

That’s not to say Yeshua won’t judge sin. I am simply saying that sin is not specific to any people group. Everyone, regardless of ethnic or social standing, is born into sin and is in need of atonement. Yeshua makes His gracious plea of atonement, by His grace through our faith, to all men, regardless of ethnicity or socio-economic status.

I chose this passage today, because our Messianic community continues to grow. We are expanding in terms of numbers, and by grace & knowledge of G_d’s Word. I believe G_d is building our group, human stone upon stone. The cornerstone of our group is the Cornerstone of our faith: Messiah, Himself. We are diverse, but unified in the knowledge that Yeshua is the only way to salvation, for all who believe. Regardless of our sin origin, we have each become an altogether new creation, by His grace. We read the Word and we sing His praises. It is evident He has brought us together because His Rucah (Spirit) abides within and among us!

Blessings,
~Steve Wiggins, Associate Leader, Worship Leader
Shuvah Yisrael
Daily Devotional, Sunday, October 6, 2013