Are you waiting for an answer from God right now? Maybe you’ve been praying for something in particular–for God’s wisdom in a decision, for God’s healing power, for salvation for a loved one. You are waiting in earnest and hopeful the answer comes soon.
We see two men in today’s reading who each had an encounter with God. We’ll see this as God’s preparation for their unlikely meeting. Unlikely because Jews and Gentiles didn’t spend time together. Jewish laws were strict, and Jews took them seriously. God gave Peter the go ahead here; he prepared Peter ahead of time.
Both men were obedient to God’s instruction. That was impressive. I suppose if someone dressed in dazzling white told me to do something, I would probably drop everything. What a thrill! Having a heavenly encounter must be glorious and hard to describe whether in person or in a vision. Have you ever experienced one?
What do you think these men are feeling as our story ends today? Anticipation. Nervousness. Giddiness. Reservation. Fear. What emotion do you imagine? The emotion would likely be different for each of them. Because God orchestrated this meeting, I’m confident it’s going to be important, and what is about to unfold should be paid attention to.
Peter’s heart had to really be stretched. He had grown up believing certain rules were not bendable. He was likely thinking about the Gentile rules because he was staying with a tanner, now a Jewish convert. Peter didn’t want to disobey God’s rules, clearly, from his response to the vision God gave. Yet, when God says it’s okay, it’s okay.
Have you had times in your life when you’ve questioned someone’s appearance, motives, or actions because you didn’t think they were holy? We have probably all judged someone else during our life, it’s pretty much human nature. However, does the person we have judged deserve our judgement? Are we the judge? Not even close.
Just as Peter was told not to judge something God had now blessed, we can be sure God doesn’t want us to judge others, members of his creation. It doesn’t matter if they don’t look or act like us. God loves us all. We need to remember that and stop judging others. That’s God’s job.
Our own spiritual blindness can come from trying to play God. We need to be focused on our creator and having a relationship with him. God’s purpose for us is to live in eternity with him. In this life, we need to focus on building a relationship worthy of eternity. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He has given us the model to follow. We should want to be more like Jesus in all we say and do. We need to leave the judging up to God.
Tune in tomorrow to see what happens next between our new acquaintances, Cornelius and Peter.
Let’s pray. Lord forgive my heart when I look at others and make judgments. I don’t know their heart. I can’t begin to know the road they’ve traveled that brought them to this moment. May my heart be loving and giving, like that of a servant. Show me places to go and people to meet who need your touch. I trust you for the words to speak. Use these reflections to help those who read them to give them power to do the same. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Cornelius is not one of the apostles following Jesus. But he is going to play a key role in this Chapter, so let’s take some time to get to know him. We learn that he is a Roman army officer, a Greek centurion who was Captain of the Italian Regiment. This would tell us that professionally he was well respected and a strong leader. Even the Jews respected him.
Don’t you love the word, “meanwhile?” If you’ve been following the readings in Acts, we have focused most recently on Saul and the events preceding and following his conversion. Those things are happening in Damascus and Jerusalem. “Meanwhile,” Peter is doing his ministry along the coast. I love how the disciples have separated to reach more and more people. That’s their calling. They are to go to the ends of the earth. By the way, we have this same calling.
Saul didn’t waste any time in proclaiming Jesus was the Son of God. He was bold and took his assignment seriously. Are we bold like Saul? How many times do we hold back because of some fear? Maybe we’re afraid we’ll say the wrong thing or not know enough. Those are the two biggie excuses I hear the most (and have probably used myself). You can imagine how shocked people were when Saul changed his tune. The testimony was simply that Saul had made such a startling turn around.
We all have a past. Some of us are not at all proud of some of the things we have done, or choices made. I have been comforted by knowing that God loves me no matter what. He has a very big eraser, and once sins are forgiven, they are forgotten. God forgives and forgets. That’s hard for us to understand because while we may forgive someone who has done us wrong, we certainly find it next to impossible to forget the offense entirely.
