“So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” Acts 11:17

Lord God, forgive me. I have treated fellow Christians and new Christians as second class. I have said that they have the full rights of every Christian, but I have treated them otherwise. I have not fully embraced them. I have expected them to become more like me. It should have been me who became more like them. Forgive me. I have kept them at arms distance. I have looked sideways at them. I have thought negatively of them. Forgive me. Help me to embrace souls with the very same love with which you have embraced me. You have removed my sin and given me the full rights of sonship. You have fully embraced me as one of yours. Help me by your Spirit to fully embrace all into your family without reservation, with open hearts and open arms. Amen.

As the Holy Spirit adds new people to the fold of the holy Christian church, what will we do to fully embrace these new members? What will we give up? O what will we hold tightly? What are willing to lose so that the body of Christ wins? This is the question that the Jerusalem council sought to answer. It is one that we too must seek to answer.