Integration can sometimes be a very painful...
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Integration can sometimes be a very painful, harrowing process. Consider the troubles encountered in the American south during the Civil Rights Movement, or South Africa's difficult transition out of apartheid. It is not easy to bring together two groups of people that had lived apart for so long.
For so long in Israel's history, there were the Jews, and then there were the Gentiles. Like oil and water, they never mixed. Spiritually, they were going in two different directions. After Jesus came, however, the time arrived in which these two separate groups would be called to come together. It, too, was a difficult process but that integration is now part of our spiritual heritage: "This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (v. 6).
For so long in Israel's history, there were the Jews, and then there were the Gentiles. Like oil and water, they never mixed. Spiritually, they were going in two different directions. After Jesus came, however, the time arrived in which these two separate groups would be called to come together. It, too, was a difficult process but that integration is now part of our spiritual heritage: "This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (v. 6).
