Acts - Radical Change

Today's Devotion -- Acts 10:10-16
9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."
14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com
There are several times when God asks people to do things that are totally against everything they had previously believed: Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, Isaac; a young shepherd boy was told he would become king; a teenage girl was told she would bear a son although she was a virgin; and the Jewish community was told that their long awaited savior was a baby in a manger.

For hundreds of years, the laws that God himself decreed had been followed (more or less). In Leviticus 11, God clearly tells his people which animals are to be eaten and which are unclean. If you touch a pig, for example, you are unclean until evening and you must wash your clothes. If pork touched a cooking pot, the pot must be broken and discarded. These laws about eating were so ingrained in the lives of the Jews that they are still followed by the devout today.

But now Peter is told that he should not call anything that the Lord has made pure 'unclean'. Did he think this was a test? I'm sure it crossed his mind that he had been so hungry that he imagined it. If he followed the directions by eating some sausage, surely he would be struck down in a magnificent display of God's fireworks.

God knew Peter would have some doubts. After all, this was a radical change in the rules. So he immediately sent Gentiles to help verify (and expand upon) the lesson. The same will happen today. If you believe God is telling you to do something that is a radical change to the life you've been living, he will provide additional evidence of his message. It's hard to tell the difference between 'wild hair' ideas we have and assignments from God's will that will stretch our lives and spirits. His word, his people, circumstances, and prayer will usually verify the direction you are to go if the message is truly from him.

What is he telling you to do today?