December 2023
Nougat 28
If injustice is violence and goes against the grain of God’s grace, then we need God’s Justice to experience God’s Peace. In today’s Holy Nougat
“You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?” …
“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.” Galatians 5:7; 4:4 NLT
The Right Time
In many countries discrimination is accepted in particular circumstances. Many of us have first hand knowledge or read of racial and caste discrimination that has resulted in vast socioeconomic gaps between ethnic groups in many countries. And, more recently, this has eventuated into major conflicts: Russia-Ukraine, Tigray-Ethiopia, Israel-Palestine – to name a few.
Oftentimes when the discrimination has become normal, we fail to see it as an offense to God, and the add-on impact of further separation from God. Yes, such behavior has the ripple effect on our ministry and our testimony. Perhaps we could ask God to reveal where we have practiced discrimination and ask for God’s forgiveness right now. This doesn’t have to be Racial or Ethnic Justice only. We know where gender, indigenous, religious and other discriminations exist in our world. How has it affected our ability to hear/see God’s Truth?
Long before the letter to the Galatians was written, the prophet Isaiah indicated that we have gone astray, and that affects our path to God’s grace. But in that prophetic message, Isaiah presented the solution: God’s Messiah (see Isaiah 53:6). This is the very same Jesus Who we worship today and Who Paul references in our Nougat.
And we recognize that the reality of Jesus’ full humanity is only feasible through Him being born. That’s what we celebrate: God’s willingness to be incarnate (ie put on human/carnal nature) so we could once again have access to God’s kingdom. And that’s where Mary, a woman, enters the equation. I’m not here to promote Maryology, the veneration of Mary – she was ordinary human being like you and me. But her ‘Yes’ to God, affords us redemption. How can we then accept the notion of women as secondary in God’s social structure?
Maintaining our relationship with Jesus asks that we recognize all as equal value in God’s sight. That includes persons with disabilities. May we see our prejudices and by God’s Spirit repent of them, so that our relationship with God is strengthened.
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May all we seek be found in Christ