"Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it. We may receve it gladly, with thankful hearts. For we know it is made holy by the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:4-5, NLT).
To be clear, this passage is correcting the erroneous belief that certain foods cannot be eaten or that somehow it is less than spiritual to get married. Paul seems to scream in response, "EVERYTHING that God created IS GOOD!" It's stunning to see how easily we can move away from the clear teaching of God and embrace legalistic paradigms. I guess that it is easier to reject the imperfect and the potentially or perhaps obviously flawed things among us than it is to make them holy by prayer. "Everything" by necessity must include "Everyone". This is where the rubber hits the road. We are incredibly skilled at rejecting people who fall short of God's glorious standard. The problem is that when we reject these good creations of God, we are in effect rejecting God. Jesus has not called us to purify his church for him--he has already done that through the cross. He has, however, called us to bring the rejected of the world to him, so that they might become holy. How does it happen? Through prayer and the word of God. So the next time we're tempted to reject someone, perhaps we can join God in making them holy instead. Pray for them! Search the scriptures with them! Everyone God created is good! Don't reject any of them!
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1 comment:
Amen and amen. This post is nothing short of beautiful. Thank you.
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