One New People, One Living Center
One sweetness filling the whole cup, a simple picture of Jesus filling His people with the same life.
Devotional Credit: In Christ, E. Stanley Jones, reflecting on Colossians 3:11
Photo Credit: Unsplash
E. Stanley Jones walks us to a bright sentence in Scripture that keeps shattering old walls. In the new humanity, there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free. Christ is all, and in all. Jones tells how this truth rattled a parliament and how it still rattles our hearts. The gospel does not decorate the old order. It creates another kind of people around Jesus.
Jones refuses paper equality. He sets the emphasis on the living presence of Jesus in His people. If we hold to our superior circles while speaking of love, we are holding to something other than the Lord. The new self is not just nicer. It is new. It takes its life and its worth from the risen Jesus who fills the whole community.
This is not about erasing our stories. Cultures, languages, and histories remain, but they no longer rule. In Jesus, dignity is given, not earned. The Spirit forms a family in which the only boast is the Lord who indwells each one. We learn to look at brothers and sisters from the inside out, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
I am grateful for how Jones presses this home. He has us picture the temple courts opening wide to welcome the outsiders. In our day, that looks like bringing people close at the table, in our conversations, and in our decisions. No snobbery. No religious pecking order. Jesus is the center, and when He is the center, there is room for everyone He loves.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I am the Holy Spirit, and I dwell in you. I formed you into one new humanity in the Messiah. I tore down the dividing wall of hostility. I reconciled you to God in one body through the cross. I renew you after the image of your Maker so that there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free. Christ is all, and in all.
I teach you to regard no one according to the flesh. I knit you together as one body with many members, each needed, each honored. I pour out gifts for the common good. I set the lonely in families. I make you eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.
I open your eyes to the harvest from every tribe and language and people and nation. I push favoritism out of your gatherings. I set love as the rule of life. I move you to welcome as you have been welcomed. I fill your mouths with grace and your hands with acts that match your confession. Christ lives in you, and I make room for His life to flow to all.
Real-Life Analogy
Stir a spoonful of honey into hot tea. The honey keeps its sweetness, the tea keeps its warmth, but once the stirring begins the flavors no longer sit in separate corners. The whole cup is changed. Every sip carries the same sweetness.
That is a picture of Jesus filling His people. He does not erase your story, He saturates it. When you notice yourself drifting toward labels or distance, you might say, Lord, I trust You to stir Your welcome through me in this conversation. Then sit with the coworker who feels outside, ask a real question, listen without trying to fix, and offer mutual respect that reflects the Lord who lives in you both.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that in Jesus You made one new people. Thank You that Your Spirit lives in me and in every brother and sister. Thank You that worth is settled in Your Son, not in status or background. I receive Your love for the person in front of me today. I rejoice that Christ in me and Christ in them is enough for unity, courage, and joy.
Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
Colossians 3:10-11. Galatians 3:26-28. Ephesians 2:14-18. Ephesians 4:1-6. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. Romans 12:5. James 2:1-9. Acts 10:34-35. Revelation 7:9-10. Colossians 1:27. Romans 15:7. John 17:20-23. Ephesians 1:22-23.