Repentance unto Life; Follow the Prophet

In Acts 11, Peter tells the story of Cornelius and the decision he made (after being clearly guided by God) to allow Gentiles to receive the gospel. I think it's critical to consider the context. Jews were not allowed to be around Gentiles at certain points of the day. I'm pretty sure Jews weren't allowed to eat with Gentiles. Now, salvation, the thing considered most precious by the truly devout, was being offered to them. And, it didn't take a long time for the change to happen. It took 1 day. The chief Apostle was guided to change the practice, and it happened.

I'm impressed by Peter's willingness to change so quickly and follow the Lord. I'm also impressed by the other church leaders who believed Peter and supported him with change. I'm sure it would have been easy to disbelieve Peter's experience, but they didn't.

This is a great lesson for us about willingness to support and expect changes in the "true and living church." Also, it's a great lesson about what Jesus gives to us. He gives us the gift of Repentance unto life.

Here's the verse in Acts 11 saying how the Church leaders responded to Peter's story:

18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the ^aGentiles granted^brepentance unto life.

To give repentance to Israel

Many times when we think of what repentance means, we think that it's something that comes about only because we messed up. That's a very negative way to look at repentance. Everyone makes mistakes. Life is about figuring out how to improve.

The truth is that repentance is a great gift that we're so blessed to be able to use. The great gift of repentance is wonderful. It's one of the main reasons Jesus came to earth, to make the gift of repentance available to everyone.

Here's how the Apostles explained it in Acts 5:

30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and^ahanged on a tree.

31 Him hath God exalted ^awith his right hand to be a ^bPrince and a ^cSaviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and ^dforgiveness of sins.

I appreciate the gift of repentance given to us.