I know I say this almost every week, but I really do love this story in Acts 10. There are so many nuggets and gems in one chapter; we could spend weeks on this story alone.
 
We have Cornelius, a Roman centurion who feared God, is a generous giver, prays continually, but is a Gentile. We also have Peter, a Jewish follower of Jesus who is proclaiming the Gospel, but also has some preconceived ideas and assumptions about who the Gospel does and does not belong. God is about to confront his assumptions in a huge and eternally impactful way.

As Peter is on the roof praying, he has a vision of unclean animals wrapped in a sheet and is told to get up and eat. Many people think the vision was about food, literally giving us permission to things like bacon and sausage, but Luke makes it plain that something larger is afoot. As Peter enters the home of Cornelius, he explains the lesson God taught him through the vision: it wasn’t about the food, it was about the people. No longer could he think of Gentiles as impure or unclean. God was preparing Peter’s heart to cross over into territory he would not have crossed into on his own.
 
Once in the house, Peter began to do what Peter does … preach the Good News of Jesus, His ministry, death, resurrection, and forgiveness. Before he even finishes, the Holy Spirit falls upon the Gentiles … not just Cornelius, but everyone in attendance. In case you didn’t already know, for the Jewish believers, this is a really big deal.
 
In one instant, God conveys that not only had the Gospel and the Spirit now come to those outside the Jewish family of faith, but also that they wouldn’t need to become fully Jewish in order to receive the same Spirit they had received at Pentecost. They weren’t required to abandon who they were and adopt someone else’s culture to belong to the family of God.
Right before their eyes, God proves the Gospel is for everyone. Peter learned a lesson we would do well to remember: We aren’t the gatekeepers of grace. No culture, whether national or otherwise, holds a corner on the Gospel market. We who have received mercy don’t get to decide who is worthy to receive it next.
 
Truly, God was opening a door to the heart of Cornelius, but He was also doing a mighty work in Peter as well. Sometimes the barriers to Gospel advancement aren’t an unwilling world or a stubborn audience of lost souls, but our own small imagination about who God may welcome and how He may do it. 

Are there people or groups you instinctively imagine as being farther from God’s invitation than you are, or at least farther away than others? What assumptions might the Spirit need to confront in you so that you can first see people as potential recipients of grace instead of whatever else defines them?

Father, I’m so grateful Your mercy reaches farther than my own boundaries. Expose the parts of my heart that harbor prejudices, assumptions, and fears that keep me from seeing others as people You desire to rescue through the Gospel. Make me ready and willing to follow you in obedience whenever and wherever You send me to welcome those who belong to Jesus. Amen.

“One boundary God may be opening in me is __________________.”