Beyond Expectations - Day 174 Month 6-23 Week 25-6
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
Judges 10:1-11:28, Psalm 140, Jeremiah 49:1-6, Acts 10:24-48
Beyond Expectations
I received one of those Facebook memories today where a picture from years ago pops up and gives you a chance to reminisce about the past.
The picture was taken four years ago, a little over a month after we moved to Nova Scotia. Four years can bring a lot of change. We planted a garden in front of our home to make the property feel less plain. We added a spruce tree on one side and several other plants around it. This year, we had to move one of those plants because it had grown so much that it was crowding the spruce tree.
The amount of change in four years is incredible. Looking at the house in the background, we've replaced the siding and, if you look closely, you'll notice that the front door has been moved. On the right side of the picture, the barn no longer looks plain but now resembles a small home.
Change is inevitable, and growth is a natural process. When we moved into this home, we had ideas about what we wanted to improve, but some of the changes were completely unexpected. Four years later, we have only one major renovation left to complete. Even then, I suspect we'll discover new things to improve. As long as we own this home, there will always be projects to tackle.
Growth often requires us to rethink our plans. What starts small doesn't always stay small, and sometimes growth takes us in directions we never anticipated. In our Acts reading today, Peter experienced that kind of unexpected growth. The church was already expanding rapidly among the Jewish people, but God was about to broaden Peter's understanding of who the gospel was for. Peter said to Cornelius the centurion, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean" (Acts 10:28).
The death and resurrection of Jesus changed everything. What had once been limited to the Jewish people was now open to everyone. Later, the apostle Paul (whom we still know as Saul at this point in Acts) would write, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
Jesus is the great equalizer. It does not matter who you are, where you come from, or what your background may be. The invitation is open to all.
God works in unexpected ways. Just as we did not anticipate all the growth and changes in our garden, Peter did not anticipate that God would fully open the door to the Gentiles. Yet that is exactly what happened. The church grew within the Jewish world, but it also spread throughout the Gentile world. For that I am thankful, because I am a Gentile, and most of the Jesus followers I know are Gentiles as well.
All of this reminds me of one simple truth:
Jesus is for everybody.
Have a great day!
Steve
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