When Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was, Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt. 16:16).  We call that “The Great Confession,” and honor Peter for having said it.  But he also uttered what might be called “The Great Contradiction,” recorded in Acts 10:14.

    Peter saw a vision of various clean and unclean animals together.  God told him to rise and eat of these animals.  Peter, being a good Jew, would not touch or eat ceremonially unclean animals, so he said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”  When he said, “Not so, Lord,” he said two things which are mutually exclusive.  “Not so” and “Lord” don’t go together.

    Now it should be noted that Peter had a choice.  He could obey or disobey.  We all have this freedom of choice.  We are free to say, “Not so.”  One of the amazing qualities of God’s grace is that He allows us to say no to Him.  His desire is that we will love Him and choose to obey Him.  But we couldn’t choose to love and obey Him if we didn’t have the freedom to say, “No.”  Without that freedom, we would be robots, forced to obey.

    Peter’s problem was that he tried to say yes and no at the same time.  “Not so” is a possible choice.  “Lord” is a possible choice.  But “Not so, Lord” is a self-canceling phrase.  If He is truly Lord, we can’t say,”Not so.”  The very concept of His Lordship involves our complete obedience to His will.  When He makes His will known to us, our response is always to be an instant “Yes.”  If we say, “Not so,” He is no longer Lord in our lives.  We can’t have it both ways.  “Not so, Lord” doesn’t work.

    While we are free to make a choice between obedience and disobedience, we are not free to choose the consequences of our choice.  That is built in.  When we choose to obey whatever God is telling us to do,  blessing will be the result for us and for others.  When we choose to disobey, we rob ourselves and others of that blessing.  If Peter had continued to say, “Not so,” Cornelius and his household would not have heard the gospel and become Christians.  Because Peter accepted God’s rebuke for his statement and attitude, he had the privilege of seeing a mighty miracle and participating in the advancement of God’s kingdom.

    God doesn’t give us new instructions every day.  But there are times when He clearly reveals a new direction.  When that happens, He is seeking to bless us and others.  We may not understand it any more than Peter did.  But if we will surrender ourselves to the doing of God’s will, we will experience blessing in our lives, just as Peter did in his.

    But it takes more than words.  Jesus asked, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).  We must listen for His instructions.  We must surrender to His Lordship.  And we must do the thing He tells us to do.  Only then is He truly Lord.  Only then are we truly blessed.