Admitting and changing your mind when you’re wrong

S: Acts 11

2 When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him, 3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!”

[Peter tells them about the vision and what happened at Cornelius’s house.]

18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!”

19 They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

O: Praise the Lord, “those of the circumcision” acknowledged and changed their minds and praised the Lord this time, instead of persisting in criticising Peter for reaching out to the Gentiles like that.
There were others as well who only reached out to Jews, but others who also reached out the Greeks, and many were saved.

This did not mean the 100% of the Jewish believers accepted Gentile believers – as later, we see that Paul had to deal with the Judaizers.in Galatians 1:6-9, 2:3-5, 3:1-5, 5:1-12, Acts 15:1-21, Philippians 3:2-3, Colossians 2:16-23. And even Peter himself backslided on this issue when pressured by “the circumcision group” (Galatians 2:11-14).

But eventually the church did become fully open to all races, and not just Jews, just as God had intended.

A: We humans often have great difficulty owning up and changing our minds when we are wrong. I, for one, tend to dig in my heels and defend my earlier position, though thankfully, I have changed my mind on various matters and have apologised when I realised I was wrong sometimes… but it’s hard to do. But we need to do that. Otherwise, we end up on the wrong side of what God wants.

P: Father, help me to have the humility to admit it when I am wrong and repent. In Jesus’ name, amen.