Acts 11
I’ll admit that I enjoy comfort. Things that are safe, secure, familiar, predictable. The house I live in is comfortable. My community is comfortable. My job is comfortable. The only thing is – I’ve yet to read in the Bible where God calls us to a comfortable life.
The thought of the Gentiles receiving salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit was a foreign concept to these card-carrying Jews. In fact they criticized Peter and his friends for taking these despised Gentiles out to lunch at Applebee’s. The Jewish nation knew they were special in God’s eyes, but going to the Gentiles was way out of their comfort zone.
But when they heard how God was at work to bring “repentance that leads to life” even to these outsider nations, well, they had nothing else to say except to glorify God. Their comfort zone was just about to explode.
As Peter and the rest learned, and as we must learn, we had better not stand in God’s way when He wants so much to bring repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus to the nations. That must become our heart’s desire, as well. It’s what we’re commanded to do. It’s what we’re empowered to do. It’s what we ought to want to do, even though it will mean getting out of our comfort zones and getting into the real world where people are hurting, messy, broken, proud, self-sufficient, lost and lonely – all needing hope and peace and joy and salvation.
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