Untaught
“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” Acts 10:1-2
I’ve heard many women, over the years of belonging to small groups in Bible study, who have said things like, “She knows God, but she doesn’t know Jesus,” or “They go to church every Sunday, but they aren’t Christians.”
Of course, we can’t judge whether they know Jesus or are Christians—only God knows the thoughts of our hearts—although the Scriptures give us some good tests to know whether a person knows and follows Jesus or not. But it is a reality that even the most devout among us must be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A devout person is one devoted to divine worship or service, or one who expresses devotion or piety, or even someone earnest or sincere in a belief. We might also say a devout person is godly or dutiful.
Cornelius was devout, and the proof was that he and his family feared God; he gave generously to the needy; he prayed to God always, and later we read that he is just and has a good reputation among the Jews, though he was a Roman soldier. There isn’t one among us who would think he didn’t know Jesus. But Scripture shows us there is a difference between being devoted to God, and knowing the way of salvation.
What can we share with someone already devoted to God? What I gather from their words and actions isn’t that they are devoted to God, but that they are often merely devoted to a church or a lifestyle or a religion. Maybe they were brought up with these incomplete beliefs. Maybe they are untaught. When a Jewish person—who is devoted to God—accepts that Jesus, the Son of God, is their long-awaited Messiah and the only way of salvation, they are said to be “completed Jews.”
After a series of visions, an angel visited Peter and told him to go to Cornelius’s house, doubting nothing, for God had sent men to take him there. When he arrived, not knowing the least detail about what he was there for, he found that Cornelius had invited all his family and friends to hear whatever Peter had to say. “Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God” (Acts 10:33).
Peter then began to share the gospel, and while he was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who were listening, followed by baptisms. God maneuvered a lot of people into place for the gospel to move into the hearts of devout men. They heard the way of salvation, and they believed.
Lord, when we begin to worry about our loved ones who adhere to a religion, church, or lifestyle of which You are not the center, remind us of how You moved in the lives of these early believers. May we place all our hope in You to open hearts and arrange circumstances, in order that all have a chance to hear and believe. Amen.