Day 184: Job 26-27; Acts 11

It's time to wrestle. Acts 11. Here they come, the Judaizers...those who believe in order to be a Christian, if you are not Jewish by birth, you have to convert to Judaism first. By the way, they were a large source of the problem in Galatia. They are more concerned, in our reading for today, that Peter entered a Gentile household (making him ceremonially unclean), than they are excited that the Gentiles have now been adopted into God's family by the blood of Jesus and the infilling of the Holy Spirit...the New Israel, the Church. To be fair, Peter needed some powerful convincing to go to Cornelius, but you would think the faction would listen to the leader of the church...not really. As Charles Layton would say, some people have the 'gift of criticism', they can find fault with anything and everything. At the witness, 'they became silent.' True, they did glorify God, but do you feel the pause? Their silence will be unmuted. As the missionaries carry the Good News far and wide, they have their own missionary movement to govern the church and keep the work of God in line...that's what the whole 'Jerusalem Council' in Acts 15 is all about. Praise God, they do not prevail!

There's a lot going on in the Church today. It's time to wrestle. What is of God and what is not? Thank God we have His Word, and the Holy Spirit Who inspired it is with and in us. These are the ultimate guide and guardians of the Church. Trust them! We also have 2000 years of church experience and hindsight is 20/20. What has taken the Church through the fads and fancies of the millennia will see us through the present journey of the Church. It is God's Church, Christ is the Head, the Spirit is our Breath and Life, and God can be trusted with what is His!