Click here to read Acts 10 on BibleGateway.com
If you have spent much time talking with non-Christians, or anyone who is questioning God, it’s surprising how often simply reading the Bible can clear up people’s questions. Too often, people get the wrong idea about God (sometimes due to faulty understanding by Christians, unfortunately), and then reject Him based on misconceptions. Actually reading the Bible can go a long way to understanding God (shocking, right?).
For example, you may have heard certain non-Christians complain that the “rules” of the Bible aren’t fair; that God favors some people, and leaves others out in the cold. You have probably even heard people say “what about people that never hear about Jesus? What kind of petty God would send them to hell?” But look at the case of Cornelius in Acts 10. He was not a Jew; in fact, he was a member, a commander no less, of the hated Roman army. No wonder that Peter wanted nothing to do with him.
AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
Luckily for Cornelius, God didn’t have any such qualms. He sent separate visions to Peter and Cornelius, setting up the meeting between the two. Of course, Peter took a little bit more convincing, but the Bible says that Cornelius pleased God. What had Cornelius done? Was he keeping the Jewish Law? Was he following Christ’s commands? Nope. In fact, he probably hadn’t heard about Jesus at that point. However, he was praying to God the best he knew, and he cared for the poor. He followed as much of God’s commands as he knew.
That’s how God is. We are responsible to follow as closely as we can with what we know. If we reach the end of our knowledge, God finds a way to take us deeper. The majority of the time, that’s through a deeper study of the Bible. However, in some cases, God does something supernatural. Sometimes we forget; God wants to be with us. His whole purpose for creating us was for fellowship; for us to know Him. He’s not gonna balk at a little supernatural action when people are striving to know him. He will make a way.
HOW FAR WILL YOU GO?
Please God as much as you can, with what you know. It’s true, you many not know as much as some one else. Perhaps they grew up in a Christian home, attended church every time the doors were open, and attended Bible college; whilst your parents were in jail, you were passed from foster home to foster home, and had to drop out of high school to take care of your siblings. Is it fair? Absolutely not. But you can take comfort in the knowledge that God holds you responsible for what you know (or have had the opportunity to know), not what anybody else knows.
Of course, that said, you do have a little obligation. You must move forward with what you do know. If you have the opportunity to read your Bible, read it. If you have a church close enough to attend, you are responsible to go. If you have the opportunity to read awesome Biblical devotions online everyday, you need to take it.
One more thought: God did a supernatural act to bring the Good News to Cornelius, but He still worked through Peter. God can and does use angels or other means of reaching people on occasion, but by far the most common method is Christians sharing their faith with others. That’s our calling. You may be the special agent God is using to reach your neighbors; you may be the supernatural method he uses to reach someone on the other side of the globe; you may be the answer to prayer. Like Cornelius, you just must do as much as you can as best you know.
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can
– John Wesley