Reading in Acts 8 this morning. The church had just been scattered; Phillip heads to Samaria—a people group that were hated by his people group—and begins to share God’s love with them. 

Proof to me, that in God’s heart, people you’ve been taught to hate or discriminate against matter. People you don’t understand matter. People that make you angry matter. People, that—if you choose to love them as God loves them—may even cause you to be judged by your own people (see Acts 11). 

Then, once Phillip’s work is done in Samaria, he’s instructed by the Lord to “go to the south road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” Phillip obeys and on his way, “met an Ethiopian Eunuch” who “invited Phillip to come up and sit with him.”

Proof to me that Africans matter. People that dress different matter. People with a different life experience matter. Proof that God himself believes #blacklivesmatter. 

But God didn’t just use a hashtag, he demonstrated his love by sending Phillip to befriend, seek understanding, have dialogue with, and become brothers in the faith with this Ethiopian Eunuch. (A reflection of what Jesus did when He became Immanuel, God with Us). 

As so many scatter to our various political and ideological high grounds, I wonder what sort of “Phillip and Ethiopian Eunuch” opportunities are being missed. 

Praying we can all be used in the same way Phillip was.