June 21

Acts 13:46-48


As I'm reading through Acts, I'm remembering  so many conversations on High Holidays like Passover and Yom Kippor being told "we are God's chosen people".  Being young, the next natural question was "chosen for what?"  That question remained unanswered until I began to read the Bible and the Holy Spirit brought to life the truth of my identity that rests in my Jewish heritage.  In Acts 3:25-26 we were reminded that all the way back in Genesis 12:3 God promised Abraham that He would bless His descendants, the Jewish race from which the Messiah would come.  I certainly can't speak for God, but I believe His intent was that the Jewish nation be set apart and holy unto Him so that the Jews would introduce the Messiah to the world and carry out His work. Paul and Barnabas boldly reminded the Jews that by rejecting Jesus, they gave up their mission to be a light for the Gentiles and bring the salvation to the ends of the earth (v. 47).  Paul took up his cross and recognized the great responsibility God had given him and when he too was rejected by the Jews, he turned to carry the message to the Gentiles who honored the word of the Lord.  To some of you who are reading this, it might be hard to understand that a simple, innocent question asked over 50 years ago by a little girl who longed to understand could be found in the Word and answered by the Apostle Paul who, like me, grew up in a Pharisee home and later on in life had an encounter with Jesus, the One true living God. What I've come to realize is that the only reason my question as a little girl wasn't answered was because no one in my family knew the answer.  So now that I understand what we've been chosen for, I pray I can speak God's truth boldly like Paul, with the gentleness of the Fruit of the Spirit as God has commanded. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)


Randi