Seize the Moment – Day 478

From Exclusion to Embrace!

Exodus 22

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 8.

 

What motivates you to be kind and accepting of other people?

 

The covenant code continues in Exodus 22 with personal property rights and sundry laws. Exodus 22:21 gives the reason to why we are to be kind and accepting of other people:
 
“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

 

The Israelites were commanded by God to have empathy with strangers! They were to share the feelings of exclusion because they, too, were once strangers. God is commanding them to never forget their humble beginnings in a tangible way.

 

This motivation is carried over into the New Testament. Listen to 1 Peter 2:9-10 define the identity of every new covenant believer:

 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

God reminds us of our humble beginnings in a tangible way: we are to embrace the outsiders to the faith because we, too, were once excluded from the fellowship of God. Paul explains what Jesus did for us in Ephesians 2:13, 19:
 
“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. … So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.”

 

Seize the moment and remember from what you were saved so that you may have the empathy to move from excluding the stranger to embracing them as a fellow citizen.

 

God bless your day!
 
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
 

YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
 
 

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