Today's Reading:
Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20
Acts 10:24-48
Psalm 57:8-11
Click on Text Link to Read Online
Focus Verses: Acts 10:30-35
30 Cornelius
answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at
three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before
me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ 33 So
I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are
all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has
commanded you to tell us.” 34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.
Insight:
God
accepts anyone who has faith in him and reverence for him. Faith and
reverence are lived out through honoring God and doing what is right.
The testimony of all the prophets, Peter said, is that "everyone who
believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
Through this amazing God-ordained encounter, God was not only showing
himself to Cornelius and his household, he was also helping Peter to
know and understand him more fully.
Response and Action:
I
am so glad that God's mercy and love are available to everyone
regardless of ethnicity, language, nationality, or religious background.
Those who believe in God and humbly seek him will find him.
My
faith in God and reverence for him must be lived out in my daily life. I
will seek God with my whole heart. I will continue to expect God to
help me know him more completely and deeply. I will be ready and willing
to help others know and respond to God. I will also be ready to learn
new things about God. The more I know Christ the more I will be able to
share him with others. The more I share Christ with others, the more I
will know him.
O
God, thank you for loving us and for making a way for us to have
forgiveness and life through Jesus. You have promised that whoever
believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. May all who
seek you find you, O God. May all who know you freely and boldly share
your love with everyone around them. Help me to know you more and more
each day. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: 1 John 5:11-12
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Resources:
One Body, One Spirit: Principles of Successful Multiracial Churches
by George A. Yancey
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Wednesday, December 09, 2020
No Favoritism with God
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