I tend to shy away from being a “Peter basher” . . . the apostle, not me . . . well, me too. The rap on the apostle Peter is that he was impetuous . . . that he acted before he thought . . . that he was quick to try and run before he had really figured out how to walk . . . that he sometimes thought the mind of Peter should be the mind of Christ. Often his nature manifested itself in a “Ready, Shoot, Aim” approach to spouting off at the mouth. Quick to speak . . . slow to think, sometimes. And while Peter certainly “loaded that gun” for us to “pull that trigger” . . . I relate way too much to him to be critical . . .

I’m reading Acts 10:1-23 . . . and I’m impressed again by the overhaul in thinking that Peter had to go through. Talk about your world being turned upside down — again! . . . talk about changing the rules of the game . . . talk about taking what you think you knew to be reality and finding out, “Not so much!” Peter often takes “the hit” here for speaking the three words, “Not so, Lord!” And it is well pointed out that to say “Not so” and “Lord” in the same sentence kinda doesn’t go together. If He’s Lord, then it is “So”!!! . . . and if it is “Not so” then, is He really Lord? But as I think about Peter’s “schooling” on that roof top, I think about how much of what Peter thought he knew about God and the ways of God were going to challenged and spun 180 degrees that day.

Prior to the roof top it’s not like Peter was doing his own thing . . . not like he was pursuing his own agenda . . . not like he was disobediently walking his own way. No, he was out there on the leading edge of proclaiming Christ (Acts 2) . . . and suffering for it (Acts 5:40-41). Peter was being true to the light he possessed. The thing though is that he didn’t know it all yet . . . and what he thought he knew was about to be radically enhanced. The coming together of Jew and Gentile, pictured in the sheet descending from heaven, to form a new body accepted as God’s people, was a mystery up to this point, revealed only at this time in history to and through the apostles (Eph. 3:1-7). Kind of hard to fault Peter, I think.

Ok . . . so maybe saying “Not so Lord” to a voice from heaven may have not been the best thought out response . . . but he got it . . . yeah, after three times, but I’m amazed it was ONLY three times . . . and then he acted on it. What about me? How many things do I think I know about God, and Christianity, and Church life . . . things I’ve been taught . . . things that I’ve read and studied and seen for myself . . . things that others acknowledge as true . . . and what if God said, “Do it differently . . . think about it differently”? Is it possible that I may not have some of those things quite right and God may have some more for me to learn? Or possible that, while I may not be wrong, it’s only a measure of understanding . . . a “little” to be faithful with before I’m given more . . . that as I increase in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and develop more the mind of Christ, that I too may find I need to change my thinking on certain matters?

Now, I’m not talking about the foundational things like the Person and redemptive work of Christ . . . or the basis for salvation being grace alone . . . or the inerrancy of the God-breathed Scriptures. I’m referring to those myriad of things that I think I know about the Christian experience, or am comfortable with in my Christian practice, where my understanding is partial or maybe even wrong . . . and God wants to correct my thinking . . . or to enhance my understanding . . . or even radically change my thinking.

And it’s likely not going to be a voice from heaven, but my indwelling Teacher, the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, who reveals it to me. Something in my reading . . . or during some study . . . or from the Sunday morning pulpit . . . where the Spirit through the Word of God says, “Hey, this is how it is . . . it’s not the way you have thought for so long.” What will I do in that situation? . . . will I say “Not so Lord” . . . or humbly recognize that this pilgrim is still learning on this journey and bow the knee and put away my preconceived reality and submit to the Word of God . . . and say, “So!”

Oh, that I would be as ready as Peter . . . seeking God on a roof top. That I would be as favored as Peter . . . God graciously schooling me and challenging my biases through His word. That I would learn from Peter . . . and be slow to say, “Not so” . . . and that I would be as quick to learn as Peter . . . and say, “So” . . . and then go . . . for His glory.