Who Are We To Be Reaching?

“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.””

(Isaiah 49:6, NIV)

Paul, in Acts 13.47, quotes this verse from Isaiah as he and Barnabas are beginning their first missionary journey. They are speaking to the people of Antioch, to many believers, but also to many Jewish leaders who are offended by and openly against Paul and his message. As part of his gospel message to the people, he clearly reiterates this scriptural principle that God has called first Israel and after that the Gentiles.

How do we translate this principle to today? I suggest that we as the longstanding Church are comparable to Israel. We have been given first opportunity at faith, salvation, and at being used by God to build His Kingdom. But, when we get distracted by our own preferences and ways, when we begin to work to control what “church” looks like, when we make God secondary, then He continues to look beyond us - to the “Gentiles” / to those who are considered “unsavable” by the Church.

Who fits this picture for us? Who today does the Church typically judge harshly … seeing them as “unsavable”? I do believe we must repent of seeing anyone this way. All are welcome to Christ; no matter who we are, what sinful life we are being invited out of, no matter our past or our present - God loves and welcomes each of us equally!

Ask the Spirit today to show you who you have been seeing as “unsavable”. Ask the Spirit to reveal the person or group He is guiding you to serve and love.