Daily Worship

The challenge of being part of that story

April 26, 2016 0 0

Acts 11:1-8

Peter Explains His Actions

1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

This new story can be uncomfortable, unsettling and challenging 

Acts 11:1-8. Verse 8: Surely not Lord!

We are challenged by God’s new  story realising that all I have tried to be is a pretence. God does not love that, He can’t. It’s not me, he loves me, naked me. He does not love my false self, he loves my true self.

He loves and values me as I am, not as I should be; I will never be as I should be. I don’t have to be, because I am loved as I am. Will I allow Him to love me that way? He does. 

 

Brennan Manning suggests that when we meet Jesus, his question of us will be, “Do you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? That I waited for you day after day? That I longed to hear the sound of your voice? And that Jesus says to us now; “I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are and not as you should be.” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQi_IDV2bgM)

 

Prayer

Father, sometimes when new things are revealed to me it’s hard and scary. 
As some of my dearest boundaries fall away
and I begin to see things in a new way, your way,
help me to cling even closer to you and your love.
Thank you for your Cross that place of safety and sanctuary.
Thank you that sometimes the cross and your love
are the only upright and secure things I have in my life.

Lord, do your work in me and guide me in and to your love.

Amen