Peter, who was a Jew, saw the light of salvation and preached it to the Romans, who were perhaps the most hated element of civilization to the Jews. "And many believed and were baptized." The church leaders checked out the message that Peter and the apostles had been preaching and found it to be valid. Then the message went out to the Greeks with the same results. "The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch," a Gentile city!

The evidence of the change in people’s lives once they found the truth of salvation was very clear. That proof is what caused the shift from elitism to inclusion. How fitting, since Jesus had said a few years before, "By their fruits you shall know them." These Gentiles "believed and turned to the Lord."

Barnabas, the church’s representative, was pleased with what he found when he visited Antioch, but this was uncharted territory for the Jews. They had been convinced for millennia that they were God’s one-and-only people.

So I wondered:

1.    Do I have the same kind of evidence of the grace of God in my life that the Gentile Christians in Antioch had, and is that evidence evident to everyone?

2.    Have I made the same with-all-my-heart commitment to God?

3.    Do I encourage other new and growing Christians to remain true to the Lord?

I pray that the answer to all those questions is “yes!” 

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. "God is Faithful" is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.