A Very Merry COVID ChristmasSample

Praise God—You Are Included

Thank God for Paul.

When I was 18, I left home for my first-ever day of college, knowing a total of zero people on campus. The university I was attending specialized in training future pastors, Christian teachers, and ministry leaders, which meant that over 90% of the students had attended a Christian high school or prep school.

So when this public school kid showed up that fall, I didn’t have a group, a gang, a crew, a tribe, a fam, or a single friend. But thank God for Paul.

Paul was, it appeared, a popular kid from the most popular prep school. Curly black hair. A running-back build. And, praise Jesus, a heart to include the outsider.

“Hey, you want to sit with us?” Paul asked me, as I stood alone in the sea of freshmen. So I did. I sat down on the lush grass and met some of the guys who would go on to become my closest friends, all thanks to one man’s desire to include me.

Another Paul, the apostle whom my friend was named after, picked up on that imagery when he wrote, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Ephesians 1:13).

The Gentile Ephesians were “outsiders” to the true God in many ways. Most of them grew up without the Law of Moses, the lyrics of the psalms, and the guidance of the prophets, instead offering sacrifices to Artemis, Aphrodite, and Apollo. They were biblically behind lifelong Torah readers like Paul and the Jewish members of the Ephesian congregation.

But they were included. When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he preached the message of truth, the good news of the God who saves, and the Ephesians heard and believed it. Through faith, they didn’t have to sit by themselves in the back of the church but instead were included as equal members in the forgiven family of God.

That same blessing is yours too.

Maybe you didn’t grow up with the best Christian family, with a mother who prayed with you each night or a father who read Bible stories after dinner. Maybe you can’t rattle off the books of the Old Testament in less than 20 seconds (or minutes!). Maybe you’ve always felt behind from those Bible experts at your church.

But, friend, you are included in Christ. You get to sit in the circle of brothers and sisters who fix their eyes on our Father in heaven. You are just as loved, just as redeemed, just as forgiven as any other Christian. Jesus made sure that there would be no levels of status in his holy family but that everyone would have equal access to the Father.

I can’t guarantee that the kids at school will include you or the guys at your new job will invite you to lunch. But I can guarantee that you are included in the most important group in human history—the family of God.

Thank God for Paul’s words. Thank God for the gift of inclusion.