God Uses People to Care for People
God’s Rich Variety – Part I
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:10-21
Key Verses: Ephesians 3:10-11 NLT
God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was His eternal plan, which He carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
God put within us a desire to know the purpose of things. When we see something new, we often ask “what is its purpose?” When bad things happen to good people, we often ask “Why?”
Though God does not always give us answers to our questions, today’s Key Verses gives us an answer to God’s purpose for mankind.
But before we look at this purpose, lets remind ourselves of the plan:
And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6 NLT)
No matter the race or ethnicity of a person, God’s plan includes them. God wants every single person in this world to have an equal share in God’s rich inheritance of eternal life.
Now let’s answer the question of “why”. What is the purpose of people’s lives once they accept God’s gift of salvation?
Today’s Key Verse makes this very clear: God’s purpose is to use the church (God’s people) to display His wisdom in its vast variety. God had unlimited ways that He could have displayed His wisdom, but He chooses us, His people, to be the “display cases” of His work!
I love the wording of the New Living Translation (NLT) of today’s Key Verses: “in its rich variety”. God’s wisdom flows through people of all personalities and talents. Read what the Apostle Peter wrote:
God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. (1 Peter 4:10 NLT)
The summary of this week’s devotional is that God has determined to display His wisdom through those who put their faith in Jesus. God has given His people a great variety of gifts so that they can serve one another well!
The only real need that God has, in carrying out His purposes on earth, is for us to say “yes” to His call. God has not made us robots without a choice in how we live. We have a choice to receive Jesus and we have a choice to actively serve Him afterwards.
We will study more about these choices in this set of devotionals.
Father, thank You for the privilege of being part of Your family. I say “yes” to Your plans for my life.