It Is Not for You to Call Profane What God Counts Clean

Readings:
I Chronicles 18
Acts 10

Focus:
Acts 10:15b:"It is not for you to call profane what God counts clean."

For those of us who are not Jewish, this is one of the greatest passages in the Bible. This is because it is here that Peter and the other apostles truly first understand that the good news of Jesus is not only for Jewish people. Here Peter begins to see that God loves all people in the world, no matter what their race.

God prepared Peter for this by showing him a vision, a symbol of how he was now telling Peter to ignore the former ritual law of what was clean and what was unclean, and instead only obey the moral law. (This reminds me of something I referred to a little while ago, of how God showed me how intimately he cared for me just before I got my cancer diagnosis. God may use this technique regularly; he prepares people by showing them something ahead of time!)

Because Peter was ready, he was able to accept the conversion of Gentiles (non-Jews) and baptize them as Christians. This was exciting! From this came the possibility that people like me could become Christians. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't now have the greatest hope and security and peace that a person could know, because I have put my faith in Jesus Christ. I hope this is something that everyone who reads this has.