Text: Acts 11:1-18
Prayer Pointers:
For those God is seeking
To rest and move in the righteousness of God
WHO WAS I to think that I could stand in God’s way?
One of the great issues that the ministry of Jesus raised was what it meant to be near God. God, being holy, would not draw near to things that were not clean, not, as we might say, holy. To be set aside, to be claimed by God, required certain behaviors, certain processes, certain taboos. You just didn’t waltz into the presence of the Lord!
The Gospels are remarkable most of all because they show Jesus regularly drawing near to those people who would have been considered unclean, not near God. Jesus repeatedly violates the taboos of Judaism as he interacts with the diseased, with the blind, with the demon-possessed, with women, and with Gentiles. These groups, considered to be at varying distances from God depending on circumstances, find themselves welcomed honored by this rabbi whom his followers said was God’s Anointed Son. In short, rather than sinners having to overcome the many obstacles that blocked their access to God, God came to them, gave them his own righteousness, and made them holy.
May your day be grace-filled ~ Pr. Dave Brooks