Challenge Day
Tuesday — Challenge Day
Yesterday we saw that God was already moving in Cornelius before Peter arrived. But here's the part of the story we don't talk about as much — before Peter could go, God had to deal with Peter first.
Today's Scripture: "But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.' And a voice spoke to him again the second time, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.'" — Acts 10:14-15 (NKJV)
Reflection:
"No, Lord." Two words that don't actually belong together.
If He is truly Lord, then no is not really an option. And yet Peter — the man who walked with Jesus, witnessed the resurrection, and was filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost — looked at God's vision and said exactly that.
Here's what makes this so convicting: Peter wasn't trying to be disobedient. He was trying to be faithful. He was holding onto what he knew, honoring what had always been right and true. And God said, I need you to let me expand that.
Most of us have our own version of Peter's sheet. We have categories — people we've mentally written off, communities we've decided are too broken, situations we've stopped investing in. And if we're honest, we didn't build those categories out of malice. We built them out of past hurts. Out of trying something that didn't work. Out of protecting ourselves from what's broken, because broken things can break you.
But God keeps lowering that sheet. And He keeps saying the same thing: What I have cleansed, do not call common.
Today's Application: Ask yourself honestly: Is there a person, a community, or a situation that God keeps bringing in front of you — and you keep saying "no, Lord" to? Just name it today. You don't have to have the answer yet. Just be honest.
A Closing Thought: God isn't asking you to have it all figured out. He's asking you to stop calling common what He has already cleansed.
Yesterday we saw that God was already moving in Cornelius before Peter arrived. But here's the part of the story we don't talk about as much — before Peter could go, God had to deal with Peter first.
Today's Scripture: "But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.' And a voice spoke to him again the second time, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.'" — Acts 10:14-15 (NKJV)
Reflection:
"No, Lord." Two words that don't actually belong together.
If He is truly Lord, then no is not really an option. And yet Peter — the man who walked with Jesus, witnessed the resurrection, and was filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost — looked at God's vision and said exactly that.
Here's what makes this so convicting: Peter wasn't trying to be disobedient. He was trying to be faithful. He was holding onto what he knew, honoring what had always been right and true. And God said, I need you to let me expand that.
Most of us have our own version of Peter's sheet. We have categories — people we've mentally written off, communities we've decided are too broken, situations we've stopped investing in. And if we're honest, we didn't build those categories out of malice. We built them out of past hurts. Out of trying something that didn't work. Out of protecting ourselves from what's broken, because broken things can break you.
But God keeps lowering that sheet. And He keeps saying the same thing: What I have cleansed, do not call common.
Today's Application: Ask yourself honestly: Is there a person, a community, or a situation that God keeps bringing in front of you — and you keep saying "no, Lord" to? Just name it today. You don't have to have the answer yet. Just be honest.
A Closing Thought: God isn't asking you to have it all figured out. He's asking you to stop calling common what He has already cleansed.
Posted in Devotional
Recent
Archive
2026
May