I truly understand
that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does
what is right is acceptable to Him. Acts
10:34b-35 (NLT)
One look at our culture tells you that people are confused about a
lot of things!
If you really want confusion try understanding church
committees. A church cemetery committee
was discussing at some length the price of lots. The chairman, wishing to bring
the thoughts together, summed things up with one of those statements that need
to be taken the way they are meant, not the way they are said: We should have two prices—one for those
local and another rate for those from out of town. The people buried there from out of town
never come back to help maintain the grounds.[1]
(Well, I hope not!
But you understand what he meant even in the confusion.)
The apostle Peter had a
confusing vision one day. In the
evening, while he was waiting for dinner to be ready, he went up to the flat
roof of the house to catch the cool evening breeze of the open space. While he waited he prayed. In this prayer time Peter had a vision of a
sheet being let down from heaven by its’ four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals – but
all of them forbidden to eat by Jewish law.
Peter heard a voice say, Get
up, Peter; kill and eat.
Now some folks might
attribute that kind of experience to a simple Methodist desire for the sermon
to be over and the pathway to the buffet table cleared. Peter tried to refuse on the grounds that he
never ate what the Lord had forbidden.
The voice told him he needed to rethink – because whatever God has
cleansed should not be thought to be unclean.
It took three tries, but God
finally got through to Peter. Whatever
Peter actually thought about his vision he could not have had a clue as to what
God was up to.
The day before Peter’s
vision, thirty miles to the north in Caesarea, a Roman military officer named
Cornelius was also having a vision.
Cornelius saw an angel who told him to send for Peter.
Cornelius obediently sent
servants to bring the apostle to his home.
After a night’s travel the servants arrived just after Peter had his vision. After the servants explained why they had
come, and a prompting by the Spirit of God, Peter swallowed his Jewish nationalistic
pride and went with the Gentile soldiers.
When they arrived in
Caesarea he swallowed even more pride and entered Cornelius’ house – something
that was also forbidden, because, by Jewish law and custom a Jew was never
supposed to enter a Gentile’s residence.
After a brief exchange of
what’d-you-see, why’d-that-happen, what’s-next and who-said-what…God’s Spirit
took over the meeting and Cornelius’ whole family and household servants got
saved. What a revelation for Peter; what
a blessing for the house of Cornelius!
What started out as a very
confusing time in the life of a Gentile soldier and a Jewish apostle became a
blessing to both of them and to the entire world. What everyone would have missed without the
obedience of both!
Sometimes, just stepping-out
in obedience to the Spirit’s prompting, before
we try to wrap our minds around the circumstances, we discover we could never
have imagined the blessings God’s got going on for a follower of Jesus Christ.
For You, Today…
God may have some pretty interesting paths for
you to walk today.
Why not decide in this moment to watch
for, and be obedient to His leading?
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