Monday, February 12, 2024

Listen to the Word

“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.” (Acts 10:34-35)

In Acts 10, Peter learned that God’s grace was even bigger than he realized. He already knew that grace was huge because he had experienced it himself. When Jesus was arrested, Peter pretended he didn’t know him. But one of Jesus’ priorities after he came strolling out of the tomb was to inform Peter that he still had big plans for him. Peter had also seen God’s huge grace unleashed on large groups of his Jewish brothers and sisters, watching 3000 people enter God’s family in Acts 2 and another 2000 people come on board in Acts 4. But in Acts 10, that grace gets poured out, along with the Holy Spirit, on a group of Gentiles. It never occurred to Peter that God would welcome someone who didn’t have Abraham show up on their 23andMe ancestry report.

Nobody you know is beyond the reach of God’s grace. There’s no person or category of people that he doesn’t want to welcome into his family. If you drew a circle around everyone on the planet who is loved by God, there would be nobody outside that circle.

Live the Word

Is there someone you are tempted to imagine to be unsavable? Pray that they will know and respond to the love of God.