The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times …
- from Acts 10:15-16

Today’s passage gets right to the heart of what so often divides us and to God’s solution to our divisions.

Yesterday, we saw how Peter refused to eat the food that God commanded him to eat, considering it “impure” or “unclean.” In his attempt to honor God, Peter disobeyed God. This pattern was repeated three times (as it often is in stories involving Peter) because he didn’t get it the first time.

Peter knew the rule (don’t eat certain animals) but wasn’t paying attention to the purpose of the rule. God wanted his people to abstain from certain foods so that they could maintain their unique identity and be his witnesses in the world. On the other side of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God’s people had new ways of maintaining their unique identity and new opportunities to be God’s witnesses.

This created a problem with the old rules. What happened to them? Who decides which rules get retired and which rules don’t? Today’s passage makes that clear: God decides.

When we decide which rules to keep and which rules to toss, we end up leveraging rules to maintain divisions between us and people who are different from us. Our internal brokenness manifests itself in our broken relationships. But when we choose to let God decide which rules to keep and which rules to toss, we find ourselves following him into wonderful and challenging relationships that only he can make possible.

Choosing to surrender the right to make the rules is an ongoing activity. We have to make this choice daily, sometimes multiple times every day. But it’s worth doing.

Take time today to pray a prayer of surrender, like this one:
Lord, I need you to make the rules. When I’m in charge, despite my best efforts, brokenness remains. I trust you to tell me how I should live. Guide me in all of my relationships today. Help me to love the people you place in my path. Amen.