God’s Way

Acts 11  ; 1-18v17 “ And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift He gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

Peter was criticized by his Jewish friends that he had entered the home of a Gentile, and even ate with them. He explained his actions by telling them about a vision he had had when praying. God sent something like a large tablecloth filled with all types of animals, wild and tame, birds and reptiles and said” Get up Peter, kill and eat them” Peter refused as according to his Jewish beliefs some foods were not to be eaten. The voice from heaven replied, “Do you call something unclean if God has made it clean?” Then continuing to follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit Peter went to a house of Gentiles because these Gentiles had been visited by an Angel who told them “Summon a man named Simon Peter and they listened to what he said about Jesus and the Holy Spirit came to them. And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift, He gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

When I was in Africa for a while one of the most difficult things to deal with was their attitude towards money. Firstly, as a white person that meant I was rich and had money to spare so everywhere you went people of all ages asked for money. Secondly when they received money it went towards what was needed most at the time. The local church we went to was raising money to build a bathroom in the church for the pastor to use. A great idea I thought. However, when I heard the history that they had raised the money at least three times and still only half of the work had been done but the pastors all four of them went to a conference with all expenses paid I wondered what was the best thing to do with my money? However following God’s way for me meant that I did not worry about the money I gave to the Church. I was rich compared to most of the other people who attended, and I should give back to God what was his, so I gave generously to the church even for the new toilets. Who was I to stand in God’s way?

Prayer: Holy Father sometimes your ways are not what I am used to. Help us today to be generous with the wonderful gifts you give us, sharing our gifts, money, and talents for your glory. Amen.