Except for people with serious mental problems, nobody likes to exercise. However, I was in the military for the majority of my life, so I didn’t have a choice. Exercise usually involved running. To make it as painless as possible, I incorporated certain things into the routine. Sometimes I would run with fellow soldiers and talk about what was happening in our lives. When I ran by myself, I would listen to music on an MP3 player. I would always run in the morning, when it was cooler. I would take different routes in order to see different scenery.

I was never going to break any speed records. I was like the tortoise in the story of the tortoise and the hare. I just kept plugging along. After years of doing it, I got to the point where I didn’t mind it. In fact, it helped me have more energy during the day. But after about 25 years of doing it, my knees, feet, and right hip were telling me I couldn’t do this any longer. I saw guys a little older than me who were wearing braces on those parts of their bodies, and I didn’t want to be in their shoes. My doctor told me I needed to take up another form of exercise. He suggested swimming.

There was an indoor pool on our military post, so I gave it a try. I absolutely hated it. I was running five miles a day, but I found I could not even swim one lap in the pool without stopping and gasping for breath. The water was always cold. The only scenery I saw was a black line at the bottom of the pool. I couldn’t listen to music. There was no one to talk with. I went back to running for about a week. My body, however, told me that was no longer an option.

Hating every minute of it, I went back to the pool. With time, I was able to tolerate it. I don’t break any speed records in the pool either. I am like a tortoise swimming, but after about 17 years of doing it, I can say that today I would rather swim than run. My feet, knees, and hip are also glad I tried something new.

In Acts 10, Peter is told by the Lord to try something new. He was a Jew and had spent years speaking to Jews about Christ. He was comfortable doing that. He was about the same age I was when I was forced to go to the pool. As I was with running, Peter liked doing what he had always done. But God told him to go to the Gentiles.

He didn’t like that. At first, he didn’t understand what God wanted him to do, but as the Lord nudged him in a vision to do it (Acts 10:9-13), Peter said, “Not so, Lord!” (Acts 10:14). Even when he understood more, he commented that he was not comfortable as a Jewish man keeping company with Gentiles (Acts 10:28). In the book of Galatians, Paul points out that Peter had to get used to doing what the Lord wanted him to do. It took a while for Peter to realize he could eat with those to whom God had sent him (Gal 2:11-12). Old habits are hard to break. It is not fun jumping into a cold pool in the morning.

I have no doubt that Peter was glad he tried something new. He would become part of the foundation of the church (Eph 2:20), and that church is made up of both Jews and Gentiles. God pushed him into that water, and he would realize that it was so much better than doing what he had done in the past. Peter had the privilege of playing a major role in what God was doing in the whole world.

When Free Grace people talk, one of the issues that often comes up is how to get the Free Grace message out. We all realize that more people need to hear it. So many people around us have never believed in Christ alone for eternal life. Many struggle with assurance. They don’t understand about rewards. They quote well-known verses out of context. What would God have us do?

Sometimes the answer is trying something new. It may take us out of our comfort zone. We might even hate the idea of doing it. It might involve spending time with people with whom we have little in common. It might mean engaging in activities when we would rather be doing something else. Each of our lives is different. There will be different opportunities for each of us.

For Peter, it involved going to the home of a Gentile. I think all of us should ask the Lord to open doors for us to tell others about God’s grace in Christ. Maybe He will direct us to do something new, something we have never considered. We might feel like we are standing on the edge of a pool, saying, “I don’t want to jump in.” But maybe we will also find out that the water is not as bad as we thought.