'But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him' (Acts 10:35).
All those that fear God and does what is right are accepted by Him. As a Jew Peter still regard the Gentiles as outcast and common.
But he learnt that no one was common or unclean with regards to salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God to all who will accept it by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Peter learnt something amazing when he received the vision of unclean food coming down from heaven and was told to rise, kill and eat.
He responded by saying, "Not so Lord: for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean (verse 14). He was told that, what God has cleanse, should not be called common.
When Cornelius messengers arrived, Peter realised the vision wasn't about food, but people.
God is saying to us, be careful of our biases, and treatment of others who is not like us, but have a genuine heart that is searching for truth. God is sending us to every nation, kindred, tongue and people to preach about Jesus Christ and his work to save us.
Peter on speaking to Cornelius recognised that this man had received a revelation from God and was able to say, that in every nation those who fear the Lord and works righteousness is acceptable to God.
We should have these principles: a fear of the Lord; love Him; faith in Christ and work of righteousness. Even though these principles are not the ground for acceptance, they are still very much valid.
It is only through Jesus Christ, that we can be saved, not by our works. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, we have to come through Him to gain access to the Father.
We are truly in need of the righteousness of Christ, whose death covers our sin and resurrection gives us life.
God is a God who doesn't exclude anyone from gaining salvation, his desire is to save all of us.
He is not partial about Salvation, but extend it to all of us. We have to understand that by God's standard, none of us is righteous, only He is holy and righteous.
We receive the righteousness of God through Christ. We ought to acknowledge that God's grace is made available to the people of all nations. When we have a personal relationship with Christ and have faith in Him, He will make us righteous, through the grace and mercy of God.
God appointed Christ as Judge of the living and the dead. He has the power to justify people from every nation.
Our good works alone will not save us, it takes faith in Christ Jesus that He is indeed the son of God who shed his precious blood on the cross to save us. Glory be to God for salvation in Christ.
Have a wonderful day and a blessed weekend
'But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you' (Matthew 6:33). The Lord is our Provider and knows all that we are in need of before we even ask. We do not need to worry or fret ourselves about what we shall eat or drink. Our Father in heaven will take care of these things we need. We are told by Jesus, 'To seek first the kingdom of God.' What does that mean? It means we should lean on, and trust in the grace of Jesus Christ. We should repent of our sins and have a desire to turn away from it. We should seek to put God first in our praise to Him, in our worship of Him, to put our total trust in Him and to rely on Him rather than ourselves or others. We need to seek Him first in our reassurance and acknowledging who He is and what He can do. We also need to seek God's righteousness by loving our neighbors and feeding the poor and destitute, seek justice for the vulnerable. We should put God's plan and...
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