PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Saturday

Scripture lesson: Romans 11:1-2a,29-32 The Jews

Time to reflect: The relationship between Jews and Christianity is a difficult and complicated one that can’t be dealt with in any sort of fashion in a PrayerBit, but this is the passage of the day.  VERY BRIEFLY, Paul argues carefully in Romans 8-11 that the Jew’s rejection of Jesus was necessary to force the Church to evangelize gentiles and therefore a good thing.  But the Jews are NOT rejected by God and that, in fact, in some mysterious way, the gentile church will eventually become Jewish. 

Moving through the day: Again and again God has to intervene to push us out of our prejudices, preconceptions and love of the status quo.  Try to think of one area of your life where you know you need to break loose and do something different or challenging.  Make a plan for doing so.

 

Scripture:

I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:

for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.