Acts 10 Devotional

Made Clean by God

“All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.””Acts 10:43 (BSB)

God is clearly arranging both ends of this story. An angel tells Cornelius, a centurion, to send for a man named Peter (10:3-5). The next day, on a rooftop in Joppa, Peter sees a sheet full of animals his law called unclean and hears a voice tell him three times that what God has cleansed he must not treat as unclean (10:11-16). While he is still puzzling, the Spirit tells him three men are at the gate and that the Spirit himself has sent them (10:19-20).

Peter walks into a Gentile house full of people and says he now sees that God shows no partiality between peoples (10:28, 10:34). He tells them about Jesus, and that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name (10:43). Before he can finish, the Holy Spirit falls on all who are listening (10:44). Peter did not open that door. God did, and Peter followed. The people you are tempted to keep at a distance are people God is able to make clean.

To think about: Is there a person or group you have quietly decided is outside God's reach, and what would it look like to see them as God does?