Haiti has many obvious problems.  Open sewage, Undrinkable water, Decayed Infrastructure, Extreme poverty, corrupt government, etc.  But at the root of all of these problems is a need for the transforming and saving power of Jesus Christ.  Millions of dollars of aid, thousands of volunteers, and multiple UN missions have been unable to change the situation there because at its heart the country's people are spiritually dead.

I was there, primarily to teach a seminar on Ephesians in Sonlight Bible College.  As the students and I worked our way through chapter 2, I was struck by what Paul was saying and its application to Haiti (and myself).

Paul is not talking about Haitians or Americans, he is talking about Jews and Gentiles.  Just to help you get a flavor for the passion that Paul was addressing--for a Jew, there are only 2 kinds of people: God's people the Jews, and Gentile dogs. Paul says in verse 1-3 that both Jews and Gentiles have the same basic problem.  Our sin has left us dead and separated from God.  OBJECTS of his wrath is actually how Paul puts it.

In verses 4-10, Paul goes on to explain that both Jews and Gentiles have the same solution to the problem,--salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!

The rest of the chapter focuses on the fact that believing Jews and Gentiles are reconciled to each other through the work of Jesus.  The verse that really hit me was 2:15b.  In the TNIV it says "His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace." 

What Paul is really saying is that in Christ there are no more Jews.  In Christ there are no more Gentiles.  In Christ there is a "WHOLE NEW MANKIND."  And all the barriers that once stood between the Jews and Gentiles are removed by Jesus.

And as I was teaching this I was thinking, In God's Kingdom there are no Haitians and No Americans, No Whites and No Blacks, No English speakers and No Creole speakers.  And all the barriers that hinder us are removed in Jesus.  We are simply God's household, fellow citizens of the kingdom, and a new mankind.

It is time to start living this way.  Once we live like who we are.  The problems in Haiti and the problems in America will be far better addressed through the power of Christ's Peace lived out in his people doing the good works they were called and created to do.