The Bible is the greatest story ever told. One of the things that makes it the greatest story is it is just chock full of great stories. Some of them we know well and can repeat verbatim. Others are perhaps not so well known but still carry great meaning.

There are several Bible stories that fit that description. I don’t have the space, and you don’t have the time to talk about all of them. But perhaps I do have the space, and you do have the time for one of those stories.

The one I have been thinking about the last few days happens in Acts 9:9-16. It is another story about Peter—not the one about his water walking expedition—but an interesting and important story, nonetheless.

In this story, Peter climbed up on the roof of the house to pray. Once he started praying, he decided he was hungry. He was so hungry, in fact, that he fell into a trance. He was zonked out on the roof when it happened.

God woke him up with a great statement: Rise. Kill. Eat. There is not a real hunter anywhere that doesn’t resonate with such a command. In fact, I don’t know of a real hunter anywhere that is not committed to following this command.

Then the story takes a bit of a twist. There was a great sheet let down from heaven that was just teeming with all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds. In fact, there were a bunch of these animals, reptiles and birds that you would never find on the menu of a Jewish restaurant. Peter actually said that he had never eaten an unclean creature, and he wasn’t about to start now. This amazing thing happened three times.

Now I want you to think through this with me. Do you realize how close we were to not being allowed to eat bacon? (I’m sure there was a hog in that sheet which is not to be confused with a pig in a blanket.) Put your thumb as close as you can to your forefinger without the two touching. That’s how close we were to no bacon. That’s how close we were to a culinary catastrophe.

Peter, the rascal, bragging about all he had done, and all he hadn’t done, just about blew the bacon thing completely out of the water (or maybe out of the sheet).

But God is good. And thankfully, God is persistent. He obviously knew how important bacon would be to us. Thank you, Jesus, for bacon.

Now I know some of you want to yell at me that this story was not about bacon. I would politely disagree and tell you that every good story is about bacon at some point. But I realize this story was also about the Gospel being taken to the Gentiles. Boy, I am glad that happened. Next time you are munching on some bacon, remember to be glad about the Gospel being taken to the Gentiles (That’s us, you know), as well. Oh, and be glad for bacon.

 

Photo by Michelle @Shelly Captures It on Unsplash