City Life Starter

The WORD:

Acts 17:26

“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth….”

Galatians 3:28

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Revelation 7:9

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

By Heather Mattingly

We serve such a beautifully glorious, magnificent, multi-faceted God! Every single man and woman walking this earth is a precious reflection of His glory and made in His image; you are a precious reflection of His glory and made in His image. (“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” -Genesis 1:27).

I once heard a missionary say that the best way to see God is to look in the mirror; furthermore, he recommended to look in your own eyes in your mirror every morning and actually say, “good morning, Lord!”

To take this a step further – can you see the face of God in every person you meet? Especially people who don’t look like you? He is there, in every other man and woman walking this earth, for the Bible says that “He is not the god of the dead, but of the living….” (Mark 12:27).

Acts 17:26 tells us that God “made from one man every nation of mankind…..” And Galatians 3:28 tells us that, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus.”

What a beautiful truth that our Lord Jesus came not only for reconciliation (between man and God) but for restoration (between man and man) – to make all of the mankind one again. As it was at the beginning in the Garden of Eden – God’s Original Design.

And what a glorious sight restoration will be to behold in that Day: “…. a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb….” (Revelation 7:9). This great, multi-colored, multi-cultural, multi-faceted multitude will be worshiping God altogether as one. And we get to play a small part in this scene! Oh! Let us pray heaven to come down even sooner, and echo some of the final words of the Bible, “….Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

This breathtaking scene can start today in our own lives – by reaching out to those in our spheres of influence that look different from us, or those whom we wouldn’t naturally gravitate towards. We may even find that the person(s) we decide to reach out to in love will be used by God to restore something inside us, as well.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for making everyone in Your world so different. Thank You that we are not robots, that we are not all uniform people. Thank you for all the intricacies of each and every person in this world. Help me to see myself and others with Your eyes, Holy Spirit: with Your eyes of flaming love that only see Your Son, and see all who call upon Your Name as one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28). Help me to see neither “Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male or female….” but only to see sons and daughters of God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.