Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. (Acts 10:23)
Peter was learning the law of love as he followed the Holy Spirit in Acts 10. In this chapter, we find Peter lodging with a tanner. Tanning wasn’t against the law of Moses in the Old Testament, but Jewish people usually shunned and avoided tanners at all costs. They used foul mixtures for their tanning process and handled raw meat. It was a very hands-on dirty job. Staying with a tanner was against the norm for someone from a Jewish heritage, like Peter.
Next, a group of Gentiles came to the tanner’s house to speak with Peter. By simply conversing with Gentiles, Peter broke numerous Jewish laws against associating with Gentiles. Then, Peter did the unthinkable. He invited them to stay under the same roof as him! This was unfathomable. Jewish men did not abide under the same roof as Gentiles.
Yet, God had told Peter to see people the way He sees them – through the eyes of the law of love, not the law of Moses.
In having them stay, he subjected Simon, the tanner, to the same scrutiny. In the morning, he became a conspirator for others to break the law of Moses by taking a group of six Jewish men from Joppa to minister to a Gentile in Caesarea.
Although Peter was breaking cultural norms and the law of Moses, he was doing so with the law of love. He saw others through God's eyes and not his own.
Practical Application – Decide to see others through the eyes of love. Stop judging by appearances and your preconceived ideas or notions. See people and situations through God’s eyes and the law of love.
Leviticus 22:25; James 2:8