Posts
GOD BREAKS DOWN OUR WALLS
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and has broken down the dividing wall, the hostility, in/by his flesh, abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Eph 2: 13-22)
This is what it’s all about, the whole business called “salvation.” It’s about being made whole again. All of us are God’s precious construction-project, “being built” gradually “into a holy temple,” and “joined together” from our fragmentation within ourselves and between one another, “in one Body through the cross.” I know, that’s a lot to take in, all in one sentence, but that is what it’s all about: growing into the unity of Christ’s one Body, in which each of us is being built into a dwelling place of God. This does not happen suddenly, but through His cross-carrying Way. It involves the abolishment of the “dividing walls” within and between us, which we might fear and resist, because we feel special and protected by the walls we tend to erect for ourselves.
This morning I hand myself over to God, once again, surrendering my own, merely-human demands and expectations of myself and others, and let us“be built,” through the ups and downs of our different vocations and responsibilities. Thy will be done with all of us today, O Lord, our peace.
