Get Real November 23 Devotional
November 23, 2024
ACTS 10:9-16 | About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.
Peter was a great man, and the leader of the first community of believers in Jerusalem. He had a gift for preaching and evangelism. But he was very reluctant to allow Gentiles to join the movement. His reluctance is a reminder of how hard it can be to see beyond ourselves, at times. We have instructive prejudices and reflexive attitudes that impact our faith and outlook.
This is actually encouraging to me! Even the apostles had to be jolted out of some of their natural stances. Peter had witnessed Jesus minister in Samaria, compliment the faith of the Centurion, and relativize the food and Sabbath laws that separated Jew and Gentile. He’d heard the command to make disciples of all the ethnos, or people—groups, yet he still could not imagine God working beyond Israel. Three times he is commanded to eat profane food and told that what God has made clean he must not declare otherwise. Three times!
Are you stubborn?
Have you ever awakened to one of your own prejudices?
