“And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat” (Acts 10:13).
TEXT — Acts 10:9-13
Message
In a sense, there is truth in an anonymous writer’s assertion that “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change”. This brings to the fore the issue of perspectives – how we see things or people. It takes a change of perspective (which is not always easy) to have a change of attitude.
God had to use an extraordinary means to make Apostle Peter have a change of perspective and therefore, a change of attitude towards the gentile world. The gospel had been restricted to the Jews, but it was time for a transition from Jewry to the gentile space. In a trance, a hungry Peter was shown a vessel containing all sorts of four-footed beasts, creeping things and fowls of the air descending from heaven towards him. Then a voice ordered him to rise, kill and eat the animals. Of course, being a typical Jew, Peter was reluctant to act on the instruction; he would have nothing to do with anything regarded as common or unclean.
Those creatures were symbolic of the gentiles. It was done to prepare Peter to accept the opening of the door of salvation to them through him. The eventual conversion of Cornelius, a gentile centurion in Caesarea, launched the gospel to the outer world, which Apostle Paul came to fulfil. Indeed, as observed by William Cowper, “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform”. To walk with Him, we must keep His pace and willingly subsume our ideas, prejudices, preferences, assumptions and perspectives into His will and purpose.
When God sends us on an errand that lies outside our comfort zone, we should not yield to the temptation to resist the divine instruction. Divinely ordered change may be challenging but in the end, it bears the sweet fruits of God’s purpose.
Thought for the day
God effects a major change through us by changing our perspective.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
2 comments
But for this ministry,l would have been behind bars.kt was called civilization and enlightenment,we lived on the fast lanes of carousing,revelry and debauchery in their high pitches as undergraduates in Nigerian universities.Thank God for releasing salvation via messages of this great teacher of mathematics and then the gospel please
Good evening Team daily manner. I really don’t know if it’s only from my end, but I always noticed that the sound during the reading of the daily manner’s topic is very okay,but when it comes to the “Bible reading in one year”, the sound is extremely low and its a bit hard to hear. I feel it will be better if same volume of high soundi is maintained all through. Thanks
But for this ministry,l would have been behind bars.kt was called civilization and enlightenment,we lived on the fast lanes of carousing,revelry and debauchery in their high pitches as undergraduates in Nigerian universities.Thank God for releasing salvation via messages of this great teacher of mathematics and then the gospel please
Good evening Team daily manner. I really don’t know if it’s only from my end, but I always noticed that the sound during the reading of the daily manner’s topic is very okay,but when it comes to the “Bible reading in one year”, the sound is extremely low and its a bit hard to hear. I feel it will be better if same volume of high soundi is maintained all through. Thanks