You Are Not Common
You Are Not Common
Acts 10:1–8 (ESV)
In Acts 10, we meet a man named Cornelius, a Roman centurion living in Caesarea. He was not Jewish, yet the Bible describes him as “a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.” Cornelius was faithful, but by every outward standard, he did not belong to the chosen people of Israel. In the eyes of many, he was just another Gentile. Ordinary. Common.
But God had other plans.
One afternoon, Cornelius receives a vision. An angel of God appears and calls him by name. Startled and trembling, he listens as the angel tells him that his prayers and generosity have come up before God as a memorial offering. God had seen his faithfulness. God had heard his prayers. And now, God was moving in his life in a way that would change the story not just for Cornelius, but for the entire early Church.
At the same time, Peter, the same Peter who once denied Jesus three times, was being prepared for this divine encounter. Through a vision of his own, Peter learns that what God has made clean, he must no longer call common.
This moment breaks open the boundaries of who is “in” and who is “out.” It is the start of the Gospel reaching beyond one nation, one people, one culture. It is the declaration that in Christ, no one is too far gone, too unworthy, or too ordinary to be used by God.
You are not common.
You may have been labeled by your past. You may have been told you are just another person trying to get by. You may even believe that your story does not matter. But the truth is this: when God calls your name, everything changes. The same God who called Cornelius is calling you.
He sees your faithfulness when no one else does. He hears your prayers when they seem to hit the ceiling. He knows your heart, your effort, and your quiet obedience.
And He says, “You are not common.”
So today, let that truth sink in. You are chosen. You are seen. You are part of something far greater than yourself. Like Cornelius, your obedience can open the door for others to encounter the grace of God.
Because when God writes your story, there is no such thing as ordinary.