While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?" (Acts 10:27-29, NIV)

Despite our best efforts to maintain the status quo and sense of control, following Jesus inevitably causes our little worlds to flip upside down. If you are a Christ-follower, realize the staggering fact that you are pursuing a God, THE God, and allow that fact to inform your expectations.  

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Through his brief time with Jesus, Peter had learned to expect the unexpected and the uncomfortable. In today’s passage, Peter is being asked to go to a place that was formerly unlawful for him, and he does it without objection, trusting God through the discomfort. Jesus nudges our expectations, pressing our comfort zones, inviting us to have a posture ready for the uncomfortable moments in our walk with him. "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me"(Luke 9:23).  

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Jesus leads us to follow his example, pointing to the more difficult path, the path that leads to life. He says, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. But the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt.7:13-14). Just so we're clear though, discomfort and difficulty aren't the guide to the right path, Jesus is. Don't look to discomfort as the roadmap of the narrow way, but humbly seek the path of Christ and his living Word, and learn to expect discomfort like road signs: "bumps ahead" on the way that leads to life.

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Peter had learned to expect the uncomfortable and how to push beyond it, that discomfort in the Christ-following life is purposed towards the growth of the believer, the benefit of others, and the glory of God. Reminiscent of the story of the reluctant prophet Jonah, Peter departs from the same town of Joppa, but unlike Jonah, he's headed directly toward God’s call, all the way up to a Roman centurion's door.  

A few years ago, my young children expressed a desire to go to our neighbors and tell them about Jesus. My mind was instantly a tangle of thoughts, few of which shared my kid's childlike faith, giddy excitement, and love for my neighbors. As their dad, I wanted to lead spiritually, but as my introverted self, I felt extremely uncomfortable and cynically skeptical regarding door-to-door evangelism. But, against much of my judgement, I followed the thread-like pull of Jesus on my reluctant heart and set a date. I reached out for prayer and in a week found my knuckles poised over a stranger's door. Believing or hoping that God had a goal on the other side and pushing through the intense discomfort, I took a step, shrugging in obedience toward the challenge.

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What really opened up that day was my heart. The path through the discomfort transformed me, and God worked through us in the lives of a Ukrainian refugee family we met that evening. As it turned out, Scripture and our shared relationship with Jesus was almost the only thing we could truly connect on because of the language barrier. What was so uncomfortable and distasteful to me was precisely what blessed these people, simply that a neighbor and brother in Christ would show up at their door.  

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Peter no doubt felt discomfort in this moment, but he did it anyway, edifying the people he visited, growing his personal walk through obedience and giving glory to God. He tolerated the discomfort through a posture of humility that was centered on his trust in God. In Philippians 2:5-11, the apostle Paul gives a beautiful outline of this inner posture by describing the life and mindset of Jesus, our great example. I really encourage you to read, or better, memorize it, and I hope it will be a rich and fruitful passage for you to dwell on through the unknowns that you face.  

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"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on us your servants. Illuminate for us direction through the unknown, pour into us strength through the challenge, and buoy us up with courage and hope in your loving plan through the uncomfortable. Make us overcomers, having the durable mindset of Christ. Thank you for your work of salvation for us which is complete through your persistence in love for us through the cross. Amen.