Travels in Acts: The Road To Redemption

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Travels in Acts

The Road To Redemption

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There once was a centurion who gave his life in service to Rome until one day he realized he must recover his life and stop taking the life of others. In that day he began the road to redemption.

It began with a look from the eyes of his victim. Perhaps it was a helpless old man who could not run fast enough. Perhaps it was a frightened child whose mother had been raped, killed and left like a pile of refuse. Or perhaps it was another soldier trying to stay alive while defending what he thought was his. With that look, wherever it could have come, the centurion recoiled in horror and shock at what he had become. From that moment he determined he would become a different person and in that moment he began to seek.

Perhaps it is this centurion we encounter in Acts 10 named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Regiment who we are told was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always…(and) a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews” (Acts 10:1, Acts 10:22).

Cornelius was told in a vision to send for the apostle Peter and when he did was baptized along with his household. With this event God openly signaled the door of faith was open to the Gentiles. It was a major development in the development of the New Testament Church of God. Peter, and the rest of the church was learning God was not a respecter of persons.

Redemption through the blood of Christ was available to all peoples. Redemption, I think, is what Cornelius sought and he finally realized it through baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.

My “imaginative” telling of what might have led Cornelius to be the man we read of in Acts serves to illustrate a key point. Cornelius was what is called a “godfearer”, a non-Israelite who joined themselves to the Jewish faith without being circumcised or doing other ceremonies. They were attracted to the hope and promises God had made to Abraham and by association sought to experience the benefits of the Law and teachings. The teaching of the scriptures gave them more hope than any of the pagan myths and cults of the age. In the God of Abraham they sought a better life.

Cornelius was one of these people and regardless whether my imaginative telling of his story is accurate we can at least realize that something in his past life was a catalyst that put him on the road to a new life. He found redemption. His sins were forgiven. His story teaches we too can be redeemed at any time through repentance and faith in God. It is not too late for any of us to begin the journey on the same road Cornelius took. Why not start today?