Ephesians 3:1-6 — Conversations with God

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

I’ve done things for someone else’s sake, Lord.  Sometimes I’m quite content with that, especially if it is a family member.  But other times I see it as an imposition and I’m frustrated, or want to reward myself for being so unselfish (boy, that sounds selfish, God), or I end up thinking I’m quite the guy.

Did Paul feel any of that?  He was in jail for the sake of us Gentiles so that we might hear the gospel.  He was doing this at Your command.  He said his received stewardship was a gracious gift from You.  That sounds pretty positive from his perspective.

The stewardship came with a revelation of Your plans for the church, and Gentiles in particular, and though this was probably pretty exciting for him, it must have also caused him a lot of grief from those not ready to receive it.

He taught us Your desire, Lord, and Your activity to make us fellow heirs with Israel, fellow members with them in the body of Messiah and fellow partakers in their promise in Messiah Yeshua.

Thank You for calling Paul to this ministry on our behalf.  Maybe his motives weren’t always the best about it, but the level of suffering he was willing to endure for us is an example and motivation to me to be less selfish and more ready to do whatever You want me to do for the sake of others, so that they might experience the good news in Jesus.