Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” - Acts 10:34-43
"I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism" Who is God trying to save? We make a mistake when we think that because we get the news first that we are now in a special position of privilege. This is sometimes done very consciously. For example: when James and John tried to secure a special place on the left and right hand of Jesus in eternity because they were earlier than the others who had come to believe in Jesus. (I wonder what Peter thought about being demoted, since he was also one of the earliest)
Sometimes it is not done so deliberately but it is common and subtle. I call it "This sin, when solved, will be simple." We all struggle with being godly and we struggle with sins. Some of those sins are more obvioius to other people and some of them are between us and God and no one else may know at all. But God is gracious and helps us to make us intensely aware of that sin and guides us and provides us the strength perhaps to conquer it. And we look and that whole journey as precious, full of setbacks and small victories. But heaven help someone else who has similar problems in their spiritual journey on their way to a fuller, richer relationship with God. We are often not sympathetic and are often critical. "How could you do that?" and "How could you be so stupid?" and "What happened to your willpower?" and "Coward!"
In this story, Peter has realized something. He has realized that his own people have killed the Messiah and he has denied that same Messiah and there are many "from every nation" who God is looking favorably upon who "fears him and does what is right" Yes, the Jews were the special people of Israel through whom the prophets spoke. But that wasn't the limit of God's plan. Other people could also call Jesus the Messiah and follow him and God would be happy to have them also, even if they didn't have the special law and special diet and special history.
I realize that I am also in the "This sin, when solved, will be simple" camp. I tend to have trouble understanding why people struggle with various sins and addictions just because I don't struggle. And I tend to minimize the struggles I do have as "reasonable" problems that every "normal" person would have. So I need forgiveness for that attitude that makes the spiritual journey that other people are on less acceptable. It's OK to have the same grace as them, even on a different journey. I need to give the same grace that I have received.
No comments:
Post a Comment