My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. [Romans 9:2-3 (NLT)]
Bereft that the people of Israel had rejected Jesus, Paul’s words are some of the saddest ones found in the epistles. I can see the tears in his eyes and hear the anguish in his voice as he dictated them to Tertius, his scribe. Young’s Literal Translation translates Paul’s words as having “great grief and unceasing pain in my heart.” Although he knows that nothing could cut him off from Christ, Paul says he’d be willing to sacrifice himself for his people if it were possible. That’s not just his life he’s offering; the word he used was anathema, meaning he was willing give up his salvation. If it would save the people of Israel, he would be delivered over to the wrath of God for eternal destruction: to spend an eternity in Hell!
While Paul probably was the greatest of Christian evangelists, we mustn’t forget that first and foremost, he was a Jew. A Pharisee who’d studied under the best teachers, he was from the tribe of Benjamin. Describing himself as “a real Hebrew if there ever was one,” all of his family and friends were Jews. He was one of God’s chosen people to whom the Messiah had been promised. Although Jesus came to the Jews first, Paul wondered how so many of God’s chosen could reject Him. Paul’s message throughout Romans was salvation by grace through faith. It must have broken his heart that the majority of his Jewish brothers and sisters would miss out on that salvation because they didn’t have faith.
Paul’s willingness to sacrifice salvation for his people shows what a burden their unbelief was on him. A similar burden is borne by many Christians when their loved ones aren’t Christ followers. Like many others, I have adult family members who don’t believe and their unbelief breaks my heart as much as the Jews’ unbelief broke Paul’s. Many of my friends have shared their grief that, in the life to come, they will not be reunited with their unbelieving family members. Like Paul, we would sacrifice our salvation if it would ensure theirs. That, however, is not how salvation works. Although Jesus suffered, died and took our punishment upon Himself, we cannot take theirs. Only Jesus can save them!
It’s been asked, “How do you convince a person they’re in danger of being burned when they’re floating on a raft in the ocean?” I really don’t know! As parents and grandparents, we don’t want to lose our children or grands in this life or the next. Knowing that we are not in control, we must accept and respect their choices. In the end, only God can convince them of the truth of the Gospel! Nevertheless, we continue to love (and listen) to them, model Christ in our behavior, bear the Fruit of the Spirit, and pray continually and expectantly for them. Let us trust that God has a plan for our children. The good news is that, no matter what our loved ones have said or done in the past, they are only one step away from Jesus! Until then, let us pray!
As I offered prayers for a good biopsy report, it occurred to me that my prayer was too late. Already excised, the tissue had been sent to a pathologist; for all I knew, the report was written and waiting to be read by my physician. Was God going to rewrite the report? Any troublesome cells in my body had been there awhile. Most likely, the biopsy result was decided months ago so I probably should have been praying about it long before anyone knew a biopsy was needed. Since the pathologist’s report was determined long before my prayers, “Why bother to pray at all?” was the whisper of doubt in my mind.
John Wesley had an excellent alternative to making a New Year’s resolution that’s unlikely to be kept. Believing that Christians should reaffirm their covenant with God, in 1755, he introduced a covenant service to the Methodist Societies. By 1775, this service was usually held on New Year’s Eve (and called a Watch Night Service) or New Year’s Day. This was a service of renewal in which believers would gather for self-examination and reflection and then renew their covenant with God by dedicating themselves wholly to Him. The practice of a covenant renewal service held on the Sunday nearest January 1st continues in some Methodist churches today and is a practice that has crossed denominational lines.
600 war chariots and at least 1,200 soldiers were fast approaching and the Israelites were trapped between the mountains and the Red Sea. Panicking, they immediately blamed Moses for their predicament. No longer regarding Moses as the man who freed them from years of suffering slavery, he was now the fool who’d led them to certain death in the wilderness. In despair, the Israelites second-guessed their decision to leave Egypt. Facing such a formidable army and sure they were to die, the miseries of slavery now appealed to them. Ungrateful, unarmed, on foot, and with no place to turn, they lost heart. Failing to recall God’s powerful hand in releasing them from Pharaoh’s tyranny just a few weeks earlier, they immediately conceded defeat.
Pew Research reports that while 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas, more than half of them celebrate it only as a cultural holiday! While they’ll decorate their house with lights and wreaths, trim a tree, send cards, and exchange gifts, Christmas is just an excuse for good food, parties, family gatherings, and presents. While they’re not indifferent to Santa, gifts, merriment, or decorations, like the people of 1st century Palestine, they are indifferent to the Christ child. The shepherds saw the star and sought the babe in the manger and a caravan from the East brought Him gifts, but we don’t read of any townspeople visiting Joseph and Mary. What of the priests and scribes who told Herod where the Messiah would be born? They knew the prophecies but didn’t join the Magi in their quest to find the One who would fulfill those prophecies. Lowly shepherds and men from a faraway land recognized Jesus as the Messiah but most of God’s chosen people ignored the greatest event in all of history.
Devotions of the Heart 