Defrag Your Life

Defrag Your Life

Words of Faith 2-4-2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

www.faithfellowshipweb.com

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Ephesians 2

  [14] For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,  [15] by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,   [16] and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  

      Not only do we have an audience with the King, having been brought near by His grace, we also have peace.  He is our peace.  Of course, we have peace with God, but there was another purpose beyond that.  By abolishing the barriers between you and God, He also abolished the barriers between people. 

      The world of Judaism had been a fragmented one.  Jews were separated from Gentiles, and there was hostility between the two.  Priests were separated from regular people.  Men were separated from women, and there was a dominant enmity between them.  Clean people were separated from unclean people.  The worship life of the Temple reflected all this through literal barriers that separated people.  The Greek word used here is phragmos, from which we get the word fragmented.

      We must realize that the shattering result of sin was to place a barrier between humans and God and between humans and one another.  We are born dead in our trespasses and sin but also fragmented from one another.  There are barriers of hostility and dividing walls that estrange us.  Jesus came to tear down these barriers and free us from the curse of sin, death, separation, and hostility. God has declared peace!  He is our peace in Christ Jesus, and He has destroyed the dividing walls of hostility.

      The Holy Spirit tells us God's purpose in all of this!  His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  Paul declared this truth again to the Galatians-- There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (3:28).  The barriers and hostility have been put to death on the cross. The phragmos are broken down.

      So why do we still act like we are not at peace?  Why do enmities continue and barriers remain? 

      If you work with computers, you probably are familiar with the process of "defragmenting" your hard drive-- or "defragging."  This process physically changes and resorts data-- organizing the contents of the disk to store pieces of each file close together and contiguously.  That is exactly what God purposed to do in Christ.  By declaring peace and tearing down barriers, He made it possible to defrag humanity and defrag your life.  The barriers are down.  We don't have to treat people with hostility.  We can move close together.

      In Christ, He is our peace.  He is the defrag program that you have always needed.  We simply need to put that program to work.  Think about this.  In Heaven, we will be completely defragged.  Why not start now?

    Father God, thank You for breaking down the barriers that separate people.  Defrag my life.  Defrag my heart.  You are my peace.  Break down any barrier that I have held against another person for any reason.  Reveal in my life the power of Your mercy and impact of Your grace.  In Jesus' Name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2010, 2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.