Far too often I catch myself feeling that I am better than other people. My standards are higher, my values are better. This can happen especially when I think about the unbelievers around me. "Surely," something whispers inside me, "they are mostly immoral and not to be trusted. Leave two of them alone in a room, and who knows what they might do to each other."
In the time when Peter lived, Jews considered Gentiles to be especially unclean, and anything they touched became unclean. Peter needed a revelation from God to break down his prejudice, and when he tried to share that revelation with his fellow believers later, at first they had a hard time accepting it. And all of this came after they had watched Jesus for three years mixing with Gentiles and Samaritans and touching people who had dangerous contagious diseases.
"At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger. But God's mercy is so abundant. . . ." (Ephesians 2:2- 4)
If we have higher standards and better values, it is only because of God's grace. In myself I am no better than my unbelieving neighbor. Indeed, Paul came to the place where he saw that he was an even greater sinner than any of those unbelievers.
- 28 OCTOBER -