By Michael Yong

And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” (Acts 10:15)

Peter had a vision. He “saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.” (Acts 10:11-12). He was told to eat since he was hungry. Peter replied that he had never eaten such creatures because they were unclean. For God had forbidden the Jews to eat these creatures since he marked them as unclean (Leviticus 11). This command was necessary and appropriate for its time. But it was rescinded int he vision. But something more was at stake here than just eating. And Peter understood its significance.

After receiving this vision, he proclaimed the gospel for the first time to the Gentiles who gathered at Cornelius’ house. He told them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean”. (Acts 10:28).

Sometimes, the old must go. For a far greater outcome – “to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life”! (Acts 11:18).

In this issue of REACH, staff and volunteers are charting out new ways of reaching young people. Old ways of doing things – useful and perhaps necessary in their times – sometimes have to go to make way for a greater inroad into the hearts and minds of the youth of our times. We need, as always, to be “Geared To The Times, Anchored To The Rock”!