Consider Breaking a Rule
Excerpt from Acts 10: 9-23a
“He heard a voice saying, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.’ The voice said to him again, a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times . . . Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen . . . While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them.’”
Reflection by Christina Villa
Peter is hungry. He has a vision and hears God tell him what to do: “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.”
Wait a minute, Peter says, I’m not going to just kill any old thing and eat it. There are rules against that. Even having God tell him it’s OK—three times—isn’t enough for Peter. He’s still “greatly puzzled.” What could it mean? What should he do about it? He’s still thinking about it later, when the Spirit, sounding exasperated, has a job for him to do and has to prod him into action: “Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them.”
Sometimes following rules, or doing things the way we think they’re supposed to be done, gets in the way of what God wants us to do. Following rules or sticking to procedure can be good ways to avoid challenge or risk. We’re playing it safe, but we never do anything that might be considered divinely inspired—or even very important to us.
Peter refuses to do what God tells him to do. He says, “By no means, Lord.” He’s let the procedure become his god. But God is barging in and changing the rules, as if to illustrate the saying that rules are made to be broken.
What rules are you busy following while the Spirit is repeatedly trying to make you “get up” and do something else?
Prayer
Thank you, God, for never giving up on trying to get my attention. Amen.
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