Key Passage: Acts 10:9-33

Topic: Christian Living

"What God has made clean, do not call common" (Acts 10:15, ESV).

I remember hearing this story about Peter and his vision when I was young. It was strange then, and it's still strange today.

Imagine lying on a lawn chair, enjoying the summer sun, then looking up and seeing an enormous sheet filled with thousands of animals hovering above you. What does it mean? you wonder.

Peter was confused too, but God explained the situation to him.

"What God has made clean, do not call common" (Acts 10:15, ESV). This moment in Peter's life marks a turning point in his understanding of God's new relationship with humanity.

Throughout the Old Testament, God had dropped hints that someday the whole world would worship Him. But up to this point, God's attention had been on the Jewish nation--His chosen people.

With Peter's vision, the secret is out, so to speak. Now, the whole world--Jew and Gentile, "clean" and "unclean"--had the opportunity to enjoy a relationship with God through Jesus. As the apostle Paul would later say, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians--you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28, NLT).

Even today, it's sometimes easy to form our own little groups, to see ourselves as better or more special to God than others. We become afraid of reaching out to someone in need just because they're different.

But Jesus died for everyone. And if you're not a believer, understand that you are welcome to come to Jesus just as you are right now. Don't let anyone tell you different.