April 9, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.’”

(Matthew 10.5,6)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Do not misread the instructions Jesus gave to the twelve men whom He accepted as His disciples. Yes, He did tell them to go to the lost sheep of Israel. Yes, He did say do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of Samaritans. He did not say “forever.” He did not say “never.” we know that Jesus would reach out to those as well as His ministry progressed toward Calvary where we all, as the sinners we are, are spared the touch of the shadow of death. It is here that I would ask you to remember the call of sacrifice for the sake of redemption. Keep these in mind: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Isaac, the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, David and Bathsheba. Each of their stories included a substitutionary sacrifice for their redemption. Because they were redeemed from the penalty of death as a testimony of the call to be faithful, we are given an important image to consider. God provided for them by sparing their lives with a life. They were all foreshadowing of what was inevitable in the design of God for the “sheep of His hand and the people of His pasture.” (Psalm 95.7) While it is true God loves everyone, He chooses certain people to bear the weight of certain responsibilities. One certain people were the descendants of Adam and Eve by blood (Seth) and of Abraham and Sarah by faith (Isaac). The charge to Adam and Eve was to shepherd and steward all of creation. Unbeknownst to them, it would include far more than they knew. They wouldn’t know it until they stepped from the Garden and into the world. There was no going back at that point. Sadly, the world was a scary place rejecting the ways of God even after the testimony was presented to them. The charge to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and even Ishmael was to bring a blessing upon all the people of the world by faith in God. Even those stories are a bit complicated, but it remains the singular truth that God made and provided a sacrifice to redeem the people and the work of His people for the sake of all people. God’s heart was for all people. God’s promise in the midst of a sinful world was upon those who were chosen, and who would choose, to be the people of God.

So, the first calling was to reunite and reconcile “the people of God.” Jesus was not forsaking the love of all people. He was magnifying the measure by which all people would be loved. The challenge was to bring the focus back on the purpose of the Hebrews to be “a light unto the world” and because of the Word of God “be a lamp unto their feet” in leading the world to God. It wasn’t that all people should have been Jewish but that all people would be God fearers and followers. We learn this in the ministry to the rest of the world. There were rules of righteousness and standards of engagement. Jews were not the “only” people of God. They were a subset of “the whole people of God” and a “priesthood of believers” following in the way of Jesus Christ. God addressed His first love- the descendants of His first created ones. If they would get it right, then the rest of the world had a great opportunity to know of God, to know God and to follow Him all the days of their lives leaving a legacy of faith, hope and love for succeeding generations.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.