28 Feb 10
Good morning, nice people.
I need to hurry. Bye. Love and prayers. Dad/Ray
28 February 2010
Passage: Acts 10:24-48
Focus: “But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” Acts 10:28.
Peter was clearly saved and filled with the Spirit. But those
special God-given experiences were not sufficient to automatically and
instantaneously correct all his wrong views and thinking so as to
maximize his effectiveness as an agent of the Gospel. He still
had some undesirable baggage—some wrong ideas concerning people and the
plan of God. To get Peter’s attention and help him break free
from some preconceived traditional thought, God used some special
dramatic means. Fortunately, Peter was a pretty good student and
submitted to God’s lesson plan—though it was definitely
difficult. Peter demonstrates his learning revolutionary stuff
when he testifies before Cornelius’ household, “You are well aware that
it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit
him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure
or unclean” (10:28). He reaffirms his learning new lessons by
saying, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism
but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right”
(10:34-35).
In all of this, Peter was actually gaining some personal and practical
insight into the ancient promise given by God to Abraham when He
affirmed that through Abraham’s family line “all the peoples on earth
will be blessed” (Gen. 12:23). It’s worth noting the words Peter
used to describe the typical Jewish attitude. He said, “It is
against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit
him.” To this we can say, “You’re right, Peter—it’s against your
law, but not God’s.” That’s what Jesus was talking about when He
reprimanded the Pharisees and teachers of the law and said, “And why do
you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” He
went on to quote Isaiah and said, “They worship me in vain; their
teachings are but rules taught by men” (Matt. 15:3-9). Peter was
now being shaken and fine-tuned by the Spirit of God to get a better
grasp of Jesus’ last words when He gave His disciples this mandate: “Go
into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation” (Mk.
16:15). He needed to personally understand that God’s gift of
salvation was not exclusively for just Jews.
Do you suppose there could be some form or pattern of thinking in you
that is not exactly right? Is it possible that God desires to
show you something important that you still don’t clearly
understand? Sorry to break the news to you like this—but probably
there is. One thing for sure is that just because you are saved
and have experienced some special encounters with God is no guarantee
that you are completely right about everything. Please be a real
disciple and seek God and study His Word. Then you will be able
to testify with Peter, (in so many words) “GOD HAS SHOWN ME important
things that I didn’t recognize or understand before.” You’re on a
wonderful adventure.
“Being ignorant is not as shameful as being unwilling to learn.”