The half-way mark

Day 183

OT Reading: Job 23-25

NT Reading: Acts 10:24-48

So the one thing I've actually been worse about than blogging over the past month has been updating that little counter over on the right-hand side of the screen. (You have noticed the day/chapters remaining count haven't you?) So tonight I sat down, did my calculations and realized something very, very cool.

We've crossed the half-way mark.

Yes friends, for those of you reading through the Bible with me, we are on day 183 which means we have 182 days remaining. We've been doing this for six months. I think that's pretty cool.

So about today's reading, there were a few things that I could point out, but I'd like to zero in on one specific statement made by Peter from our reading in Acts today. In Acts 10:34-35 we read this, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." (NIV)

For Peter's entire life there was one thing he could be certain about; one concept that was interwoven into the fiber of every area of his life. From the education he received to the faith he practiced to the laws he obeyed one message would have been continually communicated to Peter along with every other Jew of his day. "We are God's favorite."

From the time God picked Abram way back in Genesis 12 and all the way to Peter's life, the people of Israel would gladly boast about their selection -- out of all the nations of the world -- to be God's chosen people. They were the ones to be chosen. They were the ones to have the covenant of circumcision with the living God. They were the ones who could tell tales of all that God had done for their ancestors. And Peter would have been brought up into this very same mindset.

So imagine the paradigm shift taking place in Peter's mind when he says that God does not show favoritism but instead accepts men from every nation who fear him. His entire life Peter had connected nationality with acceptance, but through these life-altering years he comes to the point where he realizes that the key lays in your submission to God, not your society of origin.

Out of this I offer an 'off the top of my head' observation/remark. Some people get very fired up about this topic...I do not. But nonetheless, there is a point I'd like to make.

Some hold to the view that certain nations are, even today, divinely chosen. Some believe present-day Israel, some think the US, many believe that their nation (whatever it happens to be) is "the one." But based on this passage and others, I tend to resist such suggestions as God seems more concerned with our obedience than our address. And maybe, just maybe, providential blessings or acceptance come, not because of our background or location, but because of our submission to him.