Isaiah 56:6-7 “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD
to serve him,
to love the name of the LORD,
and to worship him,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant –
these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.”

This was a massively important passage for the early Church, and it took them a while to get its truth through their heads. Jesus quoted the last part of this when He cleared the merchants from the Court of the Gentiles in the temple. (Mark 11:17) Human beings have a strong tendency to insularity, to shutting out “outsiders,” and the Jewish nation has been a prime example of that. Differences are real and are not necessarily to be ignored, but they are not to be denigrated, and they do not exclude any people group from God’s grace. Acts 10 and 11 record the dramatic lesson the Lord taught Peter on this subject, but that didn’t settle the issue for the whole Church, and they had a major Church Council to codify it once and for all, as recorded in Acts 15. When the early Church had such trouble understanding this point, it’s no wonder many people have trouble with it today, but that is no excuse for ignoring the issue. Every Christian needs a revelation from God that the person next to them, or across the street, or around the world, is just as valuable to God as they are. We don’t like to admit that, really. However, failure to grasp this point will leave us unable to receive many of the blessings God desires and intends for us.

This has always been an acute point for me, being a Caucasian in Japan, where the proper term for “foreigner” is more commonly ren­dered “outsider.” Being what is called a “third culture kid,” or TCK, (someone raised in a culture different from their parents’ culture, who synthesizes their own from the two) I have felt excluded for much of my life, so this is not only acute, but sore! I’ve experienced a lot of healing in this area, but my experience makes me very aware of how so many limit their appreciation of God’s grace to their own immediate circle. This limits participation not just in missions, but in simple evangelism of neighbors. Even in the 1st Century, some Christians wanted Christ to return immediately and zap all those who were persecuting them, and Peter had to deliver a fairly strong word of correction. In 2 Peter 3:8-9 he explicitly says that God wants everyone to come to repentance. That includes our family members, and it includes the terrorists on the other side of the globe. Everyone is in equal need of God’s grace! That’s a truth I am to communicate to believers and non-believers alike, so that the believers may learn to reach out and the non-believers may learn that they too are included in God’s love, and repent and believe.

Father, thank You for Your grace, and for making me aware of how much I need it. Help me be an open channel of that grace indeed, to those close, those far away, and to everyone to whom You would send me, so that as many as will may receive it, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!