Day 43 - 8-10

These three chapters signal the beginning of a shift in this book. The shift is further away from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria, and expanding beyond just ministry to the Jews but also to Gentiles. This is quite precious to me, seeing that I myself am a Gentile (in a physical sense). Without what happened in these chapters, people like me would never have been included in the Gospel invitation!

There have always been people who are only interested in the Christian faith for the power and recognition that they can achieve in the "ministry." This started very early with the "Simon" in chapter 8. How silly it is to think that you could "buy" the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter's strong condemnation (vs20-23) demonstrates that the "believing" of Simon (vs13) was merely an external ritual and never truly changed his greedy heart.

There is an interesting contrast between the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius and Saul (later called Paul). The eunuch and Cornelius were searching for truth and were very welcoming to the presentation of the gospel from either Philip or Peter. On the other hand, Saul was persecuting the church and God appeared to him in Person, as it were, to call him to Himself. God uses different approaches to draw different kinds of people to Himself. We should be sensitive to the people to whom we present the gospel and confront them in the way that they need to be confronted.

It is also interesting to me how in both chapter 9 and chapter 10 there are individuals who "argue" with God. Ananias argued about God's command to go to Saul (9:13-14). Peter argued about God's command to eat the food that was set before him (10:14). In both cases, though, obedience followed along with wonderful results - Saul was commissioned to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and the household of Cornelius came to faith in Jesus Christ. What blessings await us if we would not argue with God and simply trust and obey!