God’s Secret about Love - Martin Wiles

I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. Ephesians 3:9 NLT

My parents often instructed me to keep what I knew a secret—but not God’s secret about love.

Growing up as a pastor’s son, I was often privy to information I couldn’t share with my friends. Church information. Some good; some not so good. Whether they should have or not, my parents talked openly about church affairs in my presence. Perhaps they thought I didn’t understand. Maybe they supposed I’d keep it a secret without them telling me to. I knew about tough decisions, troubling situations, and church members who secretly drank, smoked, chewed, cursed, and visited places they shouldn’t have. I accepted this knowing and keeping secrets as the norm.

While secrecy was part of the preacher’s house, it seems a bit strange that God would keep secrets, but Paul says he does . . . or at least did. The big one was that at some point, Jews and Gentiles would stand on equal footing before God. Though the Old Testament told of a time in the future when Gentiles would be saved, most Jews never imagined God would consider them equals. 

I’m glad I live when God’s secret has been revealed. I’d hate to live with no means to approach God. And since I’m not Jewish, I’d have a difficult time making my way to God.

God plainly revealed the secret after Jesus’ resurrection. Before he ascended back into heaven, Jesus commissioned his followers to spread the story of His love and the offer of forgiveness to all people—Jew and Gentile. Those who accepted would stand on equal footing before God. By the way, this was always God’s plan as he made known at points along the way in the Old Testament. Some just had a difficult time believing it. 

Prejudice or racism will cause us to ignore the truth, even when it stares us in the face.

God’s church has no room for racism. If God welcomes all equally, we can do no less. Every person has been created in the image of God—a sin-marred image, but one there, nevertheless. And just below loving God with all our being is his command for us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

What are some ways you can share the message that God loves everyone?

Prayer: Father, thank You for loving and accepting all people equally. 

Tweetable: Do you accept all people equally? 

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No More Segregation - Martin Wiles

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when . . . he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. Ephesians 2:14 NLT

At the time, I didn’t understand what no more segregation might entail.

As a child, the only color differences I knew were the ones my parents taught me. When I was in the fifth grade, our family moved to Jackson, Tennessee. For the first time, I had a person of color in one of my classes.

I didn’t understand the word segregation—I may not have even known it—nor had I ever wondered why people of other colors and races didn’t attend my school. In the 1960s, my hometown was a hotbed of racial tension, but I didn’t understand why. I simply knew the National Guard was called in, bricks were thrown through car windows, certain areas were under curfew, and several local college students had been killed. I knew the town had a bowling alley, but little did I know the owner refusing to let people of color in had started the riot that would eventually lead to a book entitled The Orangeburg Massacre. The city had built a wall of separation. 

Prior to Christ’s coming, Jews and Gentiles were also segregated. Most Jews considered Gentiles beyond saving. But Jesus shone the love of God the Father for all people. He went to the rejected, the scorned, the shunned, and the avoided. He taught that God loves all people equally.

Fortunately, I grew up in a home where my parents and grandparents taught me to love all people. Color wasn’t important, nor was social standing. God created them all: red and yellow, black and white. They were all precious in his sight.

Only people see the differences that divide us in reality: skin color, race, class, culture, and economics. Since God loves all, regardless of any of the preceding, we should as well. I’ve made that my life’s goal and taught my children to do the same. 

If Christ loved so much that he would die for all people, how can we possibly love any less?

Let God’s love for you break down any walls of segregation you’ve built.

Prayer: Father, may we see all people as You do: worthy of love and capable of doing great things in Your kingdom. 

Tweetable: How can you help break down walls of segregation? 

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Flashback Friday - Seeing Others as God Does - Martin Wiles

Seeing Others as God Does

The LORD forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the LORD’s anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him. I Samuel 24:6 NLT

What I see is often not what God observes. 

Recently I was messaged on Facebook by a student I taught 22 years ago…a student who seemed to have no liking for me but who now was informing me I had been her favorite teacher. Her contact started me wondering about other students I had taught who were now adults and old enough to have families of their own. So I began searching Facebook for the names I could remember. I discovered a number of former students. When I clicked on their profiles, I was amazed. The ones that appeared unmotivated and rebellious when I taught them had turned out alright after all. They were married and had children. Some owned their own businesses. Others had followed and achieved their dreams. My search’s findings reminded me that I don’t often see the full picture, nor do I normally see as God does. Read more...

Tell us how you keep from judging others. 

Tweetable: How do you look at others? 

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Throwback Tuesday - Playing Favorites - Martin Wiles

Playing Favorites

He converged on the church’s front steps and watched as parishioner after parishioner passed him by without as much as a “Good morning” or “Can we help you?”

He was new in town. As one of the more prominent religious facilities in town, he hoped this church would show him acceptance and support. No offers were made. Perhaps it was his appearance or the fact that his tattered clothes didn’t parade designer names.

Inside, the members gathered to welcome their new pastor, but he was nowhere to be found. Actually, he was. Just not in the corner they scrutinized. He wasn’t on the front pew or the podium. Rather, he was the man on the front steps no one spoke to or bothered to help. Read more...

Tweetable: Are you guilty of playing favorites?

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Flashback Friday - Never Too Bad to Love - Martin Wiles

Never Too Bad to Love 

My parents cautioned me about it over and over again—especially my dad.

When I became a middle schooler, my parents began to warn me about whom I hung around with. “Bad company corrupts good morals,” they would say. While both my parents were Christians, my dad was a fundamentalist (I know because he proudly proclaimed himself as one.). So my young life was filled with rules and regulations—warning me of particular behaviors considered off-limits and against associating with those who would tempt me to consider those behaviors. And there were even a few years when they sent me to private schools hoping I would meet a better quality of peers. Read more...

Tweetable: Are there some people you don't love?

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Throwback Tuesday - Tearing Down the Barriers - Martin Wiles

Tearing Down the Barriers

On February 8, 1968, a barrier led to the deaths of 3 young men on the campus of a local university and to the injury of 28 others. Deaths and injuries that could easily have been prevented. 

The above incident happened in my hometown of Orangeburg, South Carolina, and is now referred to as the “Orangeburg Massacre.” The melee began when the owner of All Star Bowling Lane decided to turn away nonwhites. Riots and demonstrations resulted, and this single racial barrier resulted in unnecessary deaths and injuries. Read more...

Tweetable: What barriers keep you from others? 

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