Day two in Israel - continued

Day two continued,
Acts 10:9-29

We went to the place that is believed to have been the house of Simon Peter. The place where he was hungry and went into a trance. When told to kill the birds and eat them he refused to eat anything the Jewish law saw as unclean. He was told, “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”
Later on when he met with Corneluis, a Roman officer, Peter told those present, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean”.

Up until that moment, Peter was discriminating against the Gentiles, which were non Jews. He did not approach them nor share the Good news with anyone expect the Jews. God could not use Him in the way He probably wanted because of the way Peter looked at non-Jews. The same happens to us today. Many times we hinder our ministry and the work of God in our lives because we discriminate against people because of the way they dress, their sexuality, character flaws and many other things. In the past the discrimination the Jews had towards the Gentiles was obvious. With their mouth they would show their dislike. But today, it is not what we say that shows we are discriminating against a person, but rather, what we do, or do not do towards certain people. For example, those in the church who are filled with the Holy Spirit, separate themselves from those who are not, acting as if it is to protect themselves from being contaminated. You hold certain responsibilities in the church or are an active member but you criticize, disregard and look down on those who are not. You are very selective of who you surround yourself with in the sense of, you avoid speaking or getting to know someone who may be shy or from a different background to you. Just because you feel someone does not have anything in common with you or isn’t part of your circle of friends, you make no effort at all to befriend them or share with them your experiences with God.

Of course we have to protect our faith and be careful in whom we confide in, but we should not avoid people who we have the opportunity to help and learn from. I say this because when I came back from Israel, I was informed by my sister that a young man who occasionally attended the Youth Group in my branch was found dead in his flat. The cause of death has not yet been identified. He suffered with a mental illness and was often looked down upon and seen as an annoying trouble maker. I last saw him a week before I travelled to Israel. Looking back I see he was in need of help, and if given the help and support he was in need of from all of us, (myself included), maybe he would still be here today.

Many times we have people like this around us who even test our patience, but regardless of who they are we must show love to them and tolerate them, just as God tolerates us. This is something for us all to think deeply about and start to apply.

“Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right” – Acts 10:34-35

Categories: Discrimination