¹³ I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this, ¹⁴ for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them. ¹⁵ For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead! ¹⁶ And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.

¹⁷ But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. ¹⁸ But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.

¹⁹ “Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.” ²⁰ Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. ²¹ For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either.

²² Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. ²³ And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. ²⁴ You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong.

²⁵ I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.

Dear God, the first passage I noticed this morning was the first sentence in verse 25: “I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves.” Then I started backing up to see what mystery Paul was referring to. Of course, it was about Gentiles feeling entitled and proud of themselves because they (we) are grafted in to your vine like the Jewish people are.

Pride in ourselves in an interesting thing. I certainly get it. I will pray to you. Ask you for things. Ask you to provide. Ask you to be with me when I speak. And then when it goes well, I am so ready to bask in the glory of it. Why is that? Why do I want or need this kind of praise–even if it’s only in my own eyes?

I’ve been sick the last 36 hours and it hasn’t been fun at all. And I have a lot to do. I also have a couple of challenging things to deal with and accomplish. I need your help to address them. Honestly, until I sat down and started praying like this right now, I hadn’t thought to really pray to you about it. But I really do need you. I need your guidance. I need your wisdom. I need to you prepare hearts to discuss what we are going to be discussing, including my heart. I need for you to use these struggles to make us better than we otherwise would be. I need you to forgive me for my selfishness. I’m so sorry.

Father, be with me today. Guide me. Strengthen me. Help me. And please be with my wife today and her health. She isn’t feeling great either. Oh, Lord, please wrap her body up and love her. Restore her to complete health. And thank you for all that you are doing in our lives that is good. While the hard things are difficult, the good is very good and I am so grateful to have it.

I offer all of this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen