God’s Love Brings People Together
Bible Readings
Take a few minutes to read the Bible verses listed and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in how this verse applies to you this week.
14 Christ has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, and he has united us by breaking down the wall of hatred that separated us. Christ gave his own body 15 to destroy the Law of Moses with all its rules and commands. He even brought Jews and Gentiles together as though we were only one person, when he united us in peace. 16 On the cross Christ did away with our hatred for each other. He also made peace between us and God by uniting Jews and Gentiles in one body. 17 Christ came and preached peace to you Gentiles, who were far from God, and peace to us Jews, who were near God. 18 And because of Christ, all of us can come to the Father by the same Spirit. 19 You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God. 20 You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone. 21 Christ is the one who holds the building together and makes it grow into a holy temple for the Lord. 22 And you are part of that building Christ has built as a place for God's own Spirit to live.
Ephesians 2:14-22
Memory Verse
1 John 4:8
8 God is love, and anyone who doesn't love others has never known him.
Have you ever heard that water and oil don’t mix? Well, that’s true… unless you have an emulsifier. That’s a scientific term for a substance that can bring together two other substances that like to separate. So, if you mix in an emulsifier—like egg yolk—the oil and water won’t separate anymore. Instead, they will mix together and stick together. And that is exactly how God wants us to be in our communities.
God wants us to follow the example of Christ Jesus and mix his love into our relationship with others so that different kinds of people can mix together and stick together. In our Bible reading, the Jews thought they were better than the Gentiles, so the Jews separated themselves from the Gentiles, the same way oil separates from water. But Christ demonstrated the love of God to bring them together, the same way an egg yolk can bring oil and water together. And Jesus wasn’t the only one who used God’s love to bring people together.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a preacher who followed the example of Christ and brought all kinds of people together. For example, Dr. King encouraged White people to stop thinking that they were better than Black people because of their skin color and to start treating Black people as equals. Dr. King also encouraged Black people to peacefully protest their unfair treatment rather than trying to hurt the White people who had been hurting them. Like Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Dr. King reminded everyone that we all are humans made by God, and we are all his children, no matter what we look like.
God wants us to love others the way he loves us. So remember, let God's love work like an emulsifying egg yolk, bringing people together through his power.
Prayer
Father God, thanks for loving us so much that you would send your only Son, Jesus Christ, to give us your mighty power to combat hate with your love and unite others to you and each other. Amen.Related Resources
Jenée V. Giles-Hamilton
Jenée V. Giles-Hamilton is a wife, TV writer, and homeschools two of her four sons (ages five years old to 21). She loves searching for the perfect picture books to read to her younger sons and Bible devotions to share at family dinners. She also enjoys caring for their two cats: Nano-Rex and Santi Cat.