Weekly Devotional: May 27, 2026
GOD’S WORD
Ephesians 2:11-13
"Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision.’ Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ."
DEVOTIONAL BY
This eight-week series will be excerpts from the late Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee's book “Heavenly Places Revealed"
Devotional
BROUGHT NEAR
The Blight of Segregated Separation
As a Southerner who has lived a little while, I have memories of the days of segregation. I was quite young when I first realized there were other people in my town who looked different than me.
They were over there, and I was over here. It did not occur to me that there was anything more to it. Only later did I discover that this was legislated, that somehow people on my side of things thought that things would go awry if the two races mixed. When I became aware of what was happening, my young sense of justice was angered by this. When the civil rights movement began to gather momentum, I was in favor of it. Eventually, laws changed and segregation lost its legal footing. But saying it was over and making it so was quite another thing. While we have come light years since then, there are those reminders that some continue to think they are born in a place of higher favor that dictates they distance and dislike those who are not the same as "us."
Not Like Us
When Christianity began to spread beyond the bounds of Jerusalem and the cradle of Judaism, the inbred prejudice of not only the Jews, but other races became a hurdle to the gospel spreading as Christ intended. No doubt the first Christians assumed that because they were all Jewish, and Jesus had been Jewish, and they were aware of their status as God's chosen people, any believers outside of Judaism would become Jews once they accepted Christ. After all, their standards stated that it was unlawful to help a Gentile mother in childbirth because it would result in another Gentile being brought into the world. The Jewish people were in for the rudest of surprises.
In Acts 10, a dramatic revelation is coming to Peter. From that time forward, the Church understood, as it never had before, that salvation was for the whole world. When later Paul was converted, the self-described "Hebrew of the Hebrews," whose own jealousy for the Jewish faith led to murderous rampages, found that of all people he was to be the apostle to the Gentiles. There could hardly have been a more ironic twist than this. But as Paul was led by the Spirit, he realized that the new believers were not to be another iteration of the Jewish faith, but that God was forming a new people, the Body of Christ, the Church.
One of the first Church councils was held to confirm that the Gentiles need not submit to all the Jewish laws and ceremonies (Acts 16). It was agreed that while the new believers were obligated to honor the moral law, they need not observe the ceremonial or civil law as outlined in the Old Testament. The curious exception was eating meat with blood still in it. That would seem to have settled it, but just like the decision to dismantle desegregation in the Southern United States took a while and a lot of pain to work out, the same thing happened in the Church. As a result, we find that Paul, in several of his letters, keeps circling back to this issue. It wasn't a doctrinal fine point, but vital to have this understanding embraced and practiced.
Paul uses a derogatory term that the Jews used, accurate as it may have been, to describe the Gentiles: uncircumcised. This rite alone was a clear mark of separation that distinguished them from a world the Jewish people felt was untouchable. Paul noted that the Gentiles before becoming believers were "separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope, and without God in the world" (v 12).
Brought Near
"But now" leapt from Paul's quill and the scroll as he wrote. "You who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (v 13). The borders that were closed to you, the doors that had been slammed on your fingers, the shunning that greeted you in the streets are in the past tense. It's not that the Gentiles had suddenly become Jews, but they were "being included along with the Jew in Christ Jesus."
When integration was forced by the courts, Willie Clarke, who sat next to me in high school band, became a friend. One day, for some reason, he asked me to take him by his home. He invited me in, the first time I had stepped foot in an African American person's home. As he got what he needed, I was left alone in his living room where I carefully looked around at the picture of Christ and the portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. I felt unworthy to be there, knowing the history between the races. Upon reflection, I realized that segregation had not only denied black people a place, but it had also denied white people access. Willie is a brother in Christ, making this memory that much more cherished.
When the Holy Spirit melted away the differences between the Jews and the Gentiles to form the new people of God, both sides found what they missed as well as discovered what they now had together in Christ.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Does the parallel between segregation in the United States serve as a way of understanding the separation between the Jews and the Gentiles? Why or why not?
- What does it mean to you to know that through Christ you have been "brought near" to all that was denied to you before you were saved?
- How difficult is it to set aside prejudices that have been taught through the generations?
The Spiritual Life Development Ministries Team expresses our heartfelt gratitude to Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee and the team at Crest Books for faithfully bringing “Heavenly Places Revealed” to publication.
This devotional journey through Ephesians is a gracious gift to the Body of Christ.
We give thanks for the enduring writing ministry of Lt. Colonel Allen Satterlee, whose Spirit-led words continue to encourage and deepen the faith of many. His writings remain a blessing and are available through our Trade Department.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father…”
(James 1:17)