CALL IT LIKE GOD CALLS IT
ACTS 11:7-9 NKJV
7 And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' 8 But I said, 'Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.' 9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.'
Happy Valentines Day! If you are a guy reading or hearing this devotional in the morning, you still have time.
In our verses for today, Peter is having to defend himself before the Jewish believers. Even though they had been made new creations in Christ, they still held on to some of their old ways. Eating in the home of a Gentile was a big no-no under Jewish law.
So, Peter shares how God gave him a vision of all kinds of animals. And that he was told to kill and eat. When Peter balked at the idea of eating an unclean animal, the Lord corrected him.
"What God has cleansed you must not call common." Those words carry such powerful meaning. Gentiles were referred to by the Jews as unclean and common, but that was no longer the case. When Jesus died on the cross, and his blood was poured out, cleansing was made available to all men. Regardless of background or bloodlines, God so loved the world that He provided salvation for the world, not only the Jewish people.
Now no one was to call the Gentiles unclean and common. If God does not call them common and He has cleansed them, we need to submit to His greater work.
The vision God gave Peter and the subsequent meeting with Cornelius opened the door of salvation to all people.
APPLICATION:
There is a powerful truth that was revealed in this chapter of salvation belonging to all men.
And there is another truth here. Whatever God calls something is what we should call it.
For example, when we received Jesus as our Savior, God called us cleansed and forgiven. So that's what we are to call ourselves.
When God calls us overcomers, we are not to argue. When He says He is for us, we agree. When God says He loves us, we are not to say we are unloved.
Even though we have not had a spectacular vision, we have something even better, His word. So, if He says we are His workmanship, we don't call ourselves a failure and certainly not a loser. We are His children born into a royal family, His own special people. So, call it like He calls it.
PRAYER:
Thank You Lord for what You have done for me through Christ Jesus! Whatever You say about me, whatever You say about anything is how I will call it.