PODCAST
By Grace
July 25th, 2011
Romans 9:1-9
“Papua New Guinea is a fourth world country,” the missionary told our short-term mission group. Someone asked, “Do the people understand heart holiness?” and we were anxious to hear his answer. The people sang with enthusiasm, they testified with joy, but the outward differences in our cultures were obvious. Our group repeatedly wondered at what we had seen. In the church services, we met people bearing the scars of witchcraft. We heard of demands for payback and retribution. Children were not able to attend school because of tribal warfare.
The missionary paused. He thought about the Christians on the national board of our church. With tears he said, “The men of this nation with whom I serve are as godly as any men I have ever served with on a church board anywhere in the world.”
It isn’t our culture, it isn’t the color of our skin, and it isn’t the nature of our past sins that defines our spiritual life. The grace of God makes us “the children of the promise.”
