March 3, 2010
“The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.” Ephesians 3:5-6 The Message
The Great Exchange #7
You were an outsider once. You may remember what it felt like in some other arena .. being an outsider. You may have even been an insider-outsider. But without Jesus on the inside of your life .. you were still an outsider. When you belong to Jesus you become church: called-out ones .. inexhaustibly-loved-saints .. God’s family .. God’s house .. the people who love God in such a way that outsiders want to become insiders. You become grace-givers .. grace-lovers .. and grace-gripped by the Insider-Son who exchanged your outsider-enslaved life for His Insider-freed life. You’ve become part of the Same-Family: same offer .. same help .. same promises .. same road .. same direction .. and the same oneness that Jesus shared with the God and Father of all. Everything you do becomes connected to one another. The world you live in wants you to believe that you are on your own .. your own life .. your own choices .. your own stuff. But you don’t become an insider on your own. No one ever has or ever will. A JesusFollower no longer lives on his or her own strength. That’s an outsider’s life and you’ll see it all around you today. The life you are living today is through the resurrected life of Christ. It makes everything about you different. You’re an insider who has been given the indwelling power and grace to give away the same everything that brought you in from the outside. And it only takes a moment …
“You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.” Ephesians 4:4-6 The Message
Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Outsiders made Insiders through trusting Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)
