Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Good News to All


Bently Joseph
St. John's MTC, NY
15 The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” - Martin Luther King Jr. 

Acts 10:9-16 describes the vision of Peter at Joppa. In the vision Peter sees the heavens open and a sheet descends filled with all kinds of four-footed animals. A voice tells him to get up, kill, and eat and Peter defiantly says no. A second time the voice says “what God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” this happened three times before the sheet was taken away.

As you may have guessed this vision was to show Peter that the Good News is meant for all and what God has considered cleansed is worthy of the message. Now the question arises, who is considered cleansed? Here we see the beauty, mercy, and grace of God’s love. The greatest sacrifice that history has ever known was the death of our Savior for our sins. This great gift of love was not limited to one tribe, people, or race it was meant for all of humanity. Through Christ's blood we have been cleansed and all of humanity has been cleansed. Does this mean that we sit back and keep this news to ourselves?

We have been called to spread this word to others. We may question whether or not we are able to go out and do this task. But no one puts it better than Martin Luther King Jr. when we says that all we need to serve is a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. This gift of grace was not just meant for the Jewish population but for Gentiles as well.

Just as our brother and sisters in Christ have spread this message to us, we are tasked to spread this to others as well. This doesn’t mean that we need to say a sermon to spread the love but it is through the abilities and talents God has bestowed upon each of us to spread this message. It is through our lives and actions that people may see the love of God and that is the same love Jesus has shown for us. So when others see that love, their hearts may filled to the brim with love and overflow, so now they may have a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. 


PRAYER

God grant us the strength, courage, and serenity to go out into the world and become your living testimonies. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
For it is by Grace and Love we stand today, and we share that with others so they may stand with us.

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