Soul Minded

What do you see when you look at someone? Do you see their job, their family, or their wealth? When we look at a person, we need to see the most essential part of them: their soul. Seeing every person as Christ sees them, as a soul, will change how you treat them and prioritize their well-being. You see their worth and their need for a Savior.

  Acts 10 is a fantastic scripture in which we can see the thread of seeing someone's soul, not what is visible. Chapter 10 is the breakthrough moment for the non-Jewish people (Gentiles). 

In chapter ten, Peter receives a vision. He sees a sheet with four-footed animals, crawling creatures, and birds. A voice then tells Peter, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat." Peter declined because the animals on the sheet, to the Jews, were considered unholy and unclean. The voice told Peter, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." While thinking about it, the Spirit told him that three men were looking for him and to go with them without reservations. However, Peter was hesitant to be with these people for one reason. The people he was sent to give a message were not Jews.

He teaches them that anyone who fears the Lord and does what is right is welcome to Him. He continues telling how the prophets bore witness through the name of Christ that everyone who believes in Christ receives the forgiveness of sins. While Peter was teaching the people, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit. The believers with Peter were amazed at hearing them speaking with tongues and glorifying God, something that up until that time was unique to the Jews. Peter then ordered them to be baptized. 

This text shows how both Jews and Gentiles were accepted into the church by God. To apply this to today, we should look past the Jew and the Gentile and see a soul that was important enough for Christ to die for—a soul we should love, minister to, and teach about all the fantastic things of Christ.