Be Still And Know

Acts 11.2-3 NLT When Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticised him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said. Criticism always stings. It must have been so hard for Peter to face a barrage of criticism when he returned home to Jerusalem. God had given him a vision and opened his eyes to a new world in which God was wanting to welcome everyone to himself, whether or not they were Jews. This turned all Peter’s previous thinking on its head and this discovery clearly excited him. How discouraging it must have been to face up to his critics, but we can learn a lot from the way that he did so. He would have fully understood where his critics were coming from because, before his recent revelation, he would have been saying exactly the same things. So he patiently went through his testimony. He told them about the remarkable vision and the way in which the Gentile visitors from Caesarea had come and received the gift of salvation. Peter’s hearers in Jerusalem we