Ewald Schmidt

"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will …" Ephesians 1:11 (NIV)

One of the most heart-breaking sights of our times is the refugee crisis in the Middle East. Daily we see the pain of people who had to flee their homes, and their war-torn countries with only those possessions that they can carry. People risk their lives to get aboard very small boats, trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach more prosperous, peaceful countries in Europe, where they hope to start a new life. In television reports we hear the testimonies of trauma, of people losing everything, and without any place to call home. 

Because the first-generation Christians in Ephesus were so different than the rest of society, they were rejected and persecuted. One of the first methods of persecution was economic isolation, when nobody bought from or sold anything to them. Later on it became even more violent. The Roman Emperor, especially Nero, demanded that the citizens of the Empire worship him as a god, to keep them subjected under the tyranny of Rome. Christians could not worship a man as God, and so they refused. They were then treated as rebels, often assaulted, and sometimes publicly executed in the most horrific ways. Since the first century all through the ages, and even today people are persecuted and executed because they believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. What drives people to keep on believing, even when it is life threatening to do so? The knowledge that God has chosen us to be his children!

Our new identity in Christ has made us new people. We are God's new nation on this earth. We belong to God, and to one another. God has removed the divisive walls that mankind created between different people, and made us one in Christ (see also Galatians 3:28). The world may be filled with hate and violence, but in the family of Christ I find peace and safety. The church is my tribe, my people where I belong. The place I find acceptance, love and encouragement. That is how God planned the church to be. It is sad that so many people have found the church lacking in love and acceptance. For some the church has become a place of hurt and rejection. That is never what God intended. It requires us to change, to do all we can to help build the faith community as a place of love and acceptance. I must be part of God's answer to the pain of this world, being a beacon of hope to people still trapped in the storms of life.

Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus that you are still busy healing broken people today, restoring communities, and giving us peace. Thank you that we are not refugees in this world any more, but part of your people, where we belong. Help us then to be a part of your answer to those who are still lost, and without hope in the world around us. Let us be instruments of your love everywhere we go. Amen.