Experience: S2 - Day 18

The risk of stepping out of your comfort zones 

Acts 10:34 Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35 In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. 36 This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. 38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

39 “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, 41 not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. 43 He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

What a powerful line that begins our reflection for today; “God shows no favoritism.” Powerful, but hard for us to remember and put into practice. Why? Because real community is hard.  Loving those that are different than us can be a challenge, especially when they believe differently, act differently, and come from different backgrounds and experiences.

However, as Peter was shown with Jesus and started to put into practice here, all are important to God, and all were given the gospel to receive and share.  He even says that Jesus “ordered” them “to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all.” so much language of inclusivity.

Of course, Peter was still learning what this really meant.  Jesus taught them about the love of God for all of His creation, He backed up His teachings with the way He lived His life, and He commissioned them to “go into all nations,” but to embody and live this truth would take the disciples some time.  It was out of their comfort zones and how they had lived their lives prior to Jesus.

But the Spirit continued to help Peter connect the dots between Jesus’ life and teachings and Peter’s ministry. Peter’s vision and encounter with Cornelius and his family put him in a situation to follow the example of his Rabbi.

This is one of the reasons that Crosswalk seeks to be a community of belonging for ALL people; we’re simply trying to follow the teaching and example of our Rabbi.  But admittedly, truly putting this into practice can be difficult.  It means that when we gather on any given Saturday, we could have people sitting next to us who vote differently than we do, people who dress dramatically differently than we do, people who believe differently about God than we do, or who don’t believe in God at all.  This is where the call to LOVEWELL can be so challenging.  It’s easier to love those like us, but where the gospel rubber hits the road of our lives is the call to love all others as Jesus does.

Jesus once said this: "32 If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!34  And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.” Luke 6:32-34 NLT

So what did He tell us to do? “35 Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” Luke 6:35-36 NLT

Our call then is to love the Gentile, not just the Jew; to love the Republican, the Democrat, and the Independent; to love the agnostic, the atheist, the Muslim, the Hindu; to love to inspire of our indifferences and sometimes because of them.  Because it’s our diversity that makes us stronger, and it’s our diversity that makes us more like the kind of community God wants with Him forever - “After this, I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb...” Revelation 7:9 NLT

Questions:

1. What kind of people are hardest for you to love?
2. If God shows no favoritism, why does it sometimes seem like some are more “blessed” than others?
3. How do you think we can work each day at becoming more loving, even towards our enemies?