Pastors of many growing churches preach almost weekly about healthy self-esteem, as if it were taught on every page of Scripture. Too many Christians never see that self-love comes out of a culture that prizes the individual over the community and then reads that basic principle into the pages of Scripture. The Bible, however, rightly understood, asks the question, “Why are you so concerned about yourself?” Furthermore, it indicates that our culture’s proposed cure – increased self-love – is actually the disease. If we fail to recognize the reality and depth of our sin problem, God will become less important, and people will become more important.
Edward Welch

Prejudice And The Gospel

Prejudice And The Gospel

Inspiration Read Ephesians 2:11-22

Prejudice and the Gospel

He…has broken down the middle wall of division between us. Eph. 2:14

Can the Gospel really dissolve deep- seated prejudices that have been hardened by centuries of hatred and strife? The experience of Yishael Allon of West Valley City, Utah, gives the answer. Yishael is Jewish. About 17 years ago, he met his cousin’s wife Sandy, who was dying of leukemia. Peace filled her heart and love radiated from her life that gave her a”special glow.” “She was the first real Christian I had ever met, “writes Yishael. “She was different. I would question her, and all she’d talk about was Jesus.” In 1980, Yishael heard the Gospel on the radio and received a Bible. As he read Isaiah 53, the Holy Spirit convinced him that the prophet was speaking about Jesus – the same Jesus that Sandy knew. Yishael recalls, “I believed on the Lord Jesus and became a ‘complete Jew'”.Now here’s the answer to the question of prejudice. Yishael says, ” A year and a half later, the Lord gave me His love for my enemies – the PLO who murdered 37 of my friends.”

I’m sure there are Christian Arabs who have found that same power to accept Jews who have mistreated them. The Gospel has broken down barriers between blacks and whites who know Christ, as well as between peoples of other racial and ethnic backgrounds. The apostle Paul said that through Jesus’ death for our sins, ” the middle wall of division” between Jews and Gentiles was broken down – and that goes for racial barriers of all kinds.

If prejudice still lingers in our hearts, we have not yet felt the full power of the Gospel. -D.J.D.

God’s love that drew salvation’s plan Embraces every class of man; It breaks the toughest racial wall Because it offers Christ to all.

ONLY A NEW LOVE CAN DESTROY AN OLD PREJUDICE….