The Hospitable Leader DevotionalSample

One of the most consistent themes (if not the most consistent theme) of the New Testament is how God gracefully justifies, or invokes a status of “right-ness,” on those who are undeserving of being “right.” By doing so, they become a part of the covenantal family of God, joining him in his work and mission. This beautiful passage in Ephesians notes that we are dead in our trespasses and sins, but by the grace of God through the work of Christ, who is rich in mercy, he has made us members of the household of God. We were formerly “strangers and aliens,” but now we are “fellow citizens with the saints” (ESV), enjoined with the family in living out the good deeds of Christ that he has prepared for us.

A lot of the apostle Paul’s writings are to churches that are struggling to understand what it means, and how it works, to integrate people who are far from God into the family. Remember, for most of history, the “people of God” were the Jews (though some strangers were admitted if they abided by the Law of Moses). But in the newly established era after Christ, the family of God was opened in a new way to “gentiles,” or those who were not a part of the Jewish people. So we can imagine the confusion of someone who would say, “For all of history, the people of God were the Jews. We followed codes, law, traditions, holidays, and everything else in Scripture in order to be allowed into membership. How are we now to enjoin ourselves to people who haven’t, and aren’t going to, practice in this kind of way?”

This is eminently practical for our lives. How many times have you seen someone in society look at those who are different from them and immediately assume that difference is a bad thing? Or someone in one job look down on someone who does another job? Or someone with a certain education look poorly at someone with lesser education? Or someone of one race negatively judge someone of another race? And so on. The examples run rampant. But as Paul is exhorting the Jewish-centric church in Ephesians (and elsewhere throughout the New Testament) to remember that they are only allowed into the family of God because of grace, and not by their own merit or work, so they should also have grace for others. Everyone has lived in sin at some point, and to withhold grace from someone while we are receiving grace from God is hypocritical.

Thus, we can confidently extend grace to those who are different from us because we personally know of the power of the grace of God in our own lives. Grace and mercy can change everything, and those of us who have experienced the grace of God know this firsthand. So how can you extend grace to those around you, and what effect can that display of grace have? How can joining hands with someone who is a “stranger” and “alien” bolster your work in the world, just as it has bolstered God’s?