Daily Devotions

Eph 3: 12Through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Once I was leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and had to transit halfway to change flight. We had a few hours of layover at the airport and one of the pilgrims who is a business man and he had the facilities to bring in guests into the VIP lounge. He was kind enough to bring me in as his guest and I was able to enjoy all the luxurious facilities in the VIP lounge.

I would not have that privilege if it was not for this kind brother. In a similar aspect, now we too have a friend who can invite us into the VIP room of heaven where we can come into interaction with God. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is our friend and saviour. He is the One who leads us and invites us to have fellowship with His Father in heaven.

When we were yet sinners separated from God, Jesus Christ came to be our friend and Saviour so that He can invite us into the presence of the Father God. This is a mystery because though all are called but few are chosen to enjoy this privilege. Paul also acknowledged this when he wrote in Eph 3: 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Paul acknowledged his wretchedness as a vile and wicked man in the past who had persecuted the Church and Jesus Christ and he had cause much grief and hurt to the body of Christ. He humbled himself to write in Gal 1: 13-14 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jew’s religion, how that beyond measure I persecute the church of God and wasted it. And profited in the Jew’s religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Gal 1: 23 But they heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

This is the mysterious way that God works; he takes the most unlikely person in the world to be his honoured vessel and to accomplish His plans. In the case of Paul, everyone who knew him was surprised including Paul himself. He was such a wicked man that it was not an easy thing for anyone to believe in his conversion and transformation.

When he was converted by Jesus Christ and then having been taught by Jesus and having received much revelation on the doctrine of salvation he was not readily accepted by the other apostles and the church. They could not believe his genuine conversion at first but God opened the door for him to be accepted into the fellowship of believers and into the brotherhood of the apostles.

Paul also confessed his past when he wrote in Eph 2: 11-12 wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

Therefore when we look at the way that God choose and raise His workers, we are reminded that God does not see the outward appearance of men but he looks into the hearts of man and their qualities that God can use for His kingdom work.