When I
was a child I went with my grandparents now and then as they stayed at a house
they rented at Grand Lake St. Mary near the town of Celina. My grandmother would talk about going into
town but she was so vague about it, making it sound like a place that was very
far away and hard to reach. As an adult
I went back to the place and found the house where my grandparents had
stayed. It was then that I discovered
that this mysterious town from my childhood was just about a quarter mile from
where we were.
Criticized
for his involvement with a Gentile, Peter has explained the vision that God
gave him about being more welcoming to those who were not Jewish. What did Peter learn from the men who had
been sent from Cornelius? What happened
when Peter was with Cornelius and his family?
What realization did Peter have?
As a
child my experience and thinking was limited.
Unable to actually see the town of Celina I imagined it to be this far
distant place that I could never visit.
As an adult I was able to go where I wanted and that was when I learned
how close the town was.
Peter
had the same limited thinking. His
vision of faith was that God loved only the Jews and Jesus had come only for
them. But God opened his eyes. God gave maturity to his faith. In his experience with Cornelius and his
family Peter was able to see that God was at work in people Peter did not know.
Even as
a Gentile, as an outsider, Cornelius was a believer. He did what he could to honor God and he was
generous in his giving. God spoke to
Cornelius and had him find Peter so his faith might be strengthened.
As
Peter preached to this family he saw the Holy Spirit at work. God blessed this family and in that moment
Peter was reminded that Jesus had spoken of the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. Peter was seeing this come to
fruition. He realized that God works in
all sorts of people and we are not to have limited vision in our beliefs.
We also
can begin to think that our small circle of friends and fellow believers – even
the mega-church of thousands – are the only ones who really know that
relationship with God. We must learn
that we should be open to the work of God.
The Lord is moving in the lives of all sorts of people and we must be
open to welcoming them into the kingdom of God.
DAILY CHALLENGE: What must you do to expand your thinking in faith?
