clean

Peter has me feeling guilty today. 

In Acts 10, I read this morning about Peter being told by an angel to go to the home of Cornelius, a Roman soldier and an Gentile. Peter went, and verses 28- and 29 describe his first encounter with Cornelius: "He said to them: 'You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?'"

I'm feeling guilty because I think my focus is in the wrong place. I like to get involved with my church, hash over scripture with my friends, pray with my family. Most of my Jesus talk is with people who not only already know Jesus, but who live just like I do. 

There are people that I wrinkle my nose at, and I spend little time trying to serve them, love them, witness to them, or walk with them. In fact, when I consider them at all, it's usually to judge them. 

Peter says, "But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean." Peter meant that the former religious ban against the Gentiles had been lifted. God was letting the whole world know that every person of every race was to be loved as his image-bearer. 

That means I have to be very careful about ideas that wall other people out. It isn't right to hope certain people don't buy a house on my street. It isn't right to wish some folks would just find another church. Instead of trying to surround myself with people who look and act and believe like I do, I need to seek out and welcome any human that God puts in my path.

God loves diversity – he created woodlands and meadows full of every kind of plant and creature, full of sounds and scents and colors. We like to sort things out, put like with like, make sure the proportions are just so – we want a lawn that has only bluegrass, with a few carefully chose and strategically place trees and bushes. Too much diversity seems like chaos to us, but I think heaven is going to be a little chaotic. Heaven will be the most diverse place I've ever been.

So my prayer today is for an adventurous heart that hungers for new people and new ideas, for new relationships that will stretch me and bless me as I try to bless. There are no undesirables in God's world.