“And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee.” Acts 10:30-32

The above verses describe a part of the interaction that led to the beginning of the spread of belief in Jesus among the greater Gentile world. That was a spark that would set the Roman world on fire and continue to burn throughout the whole world all these years later.

Cornelius, a Roman military official, probably seemed like the most unlikely in the eyes of many to be nominated to become the catalyst of this conversion to what would eventually be known as Christianity, but his heritage and profession didn’t witness to the grace that was in his heart. Man could see what Cornelius was supposed to be based on circumstantial evidence, but all the while God was watching what was going on much deeper inside of him.

Although Cornelius had no part in the Covenant God had cut with Abraham and his descendants, he was still a man who sought after the one true God. Even though he wasn’t bound to the Law of Moses culturally, he still followed the principles that God instituted for man to follow in order to please Him.

 How do we know these things about Cornelius? The Bible’s testimony of him of course! Earlier in the 10th chapter of the book of Acts we read how that Cornelius was a “devout man, and one that feared God with all his house.” That’s an amazing witness to his character, and communicated the condition of his heart, but the goodness of Cornelius didn’t begin and end with devotion and respect for the Almighty. No, Cornelius’ religion ran even deeper than that. His devotion to God had legs and found expression through his giving of “much alms to the people.” What does that mean? In short, it meant that Cornelius put his money where his heart was, and was generous toward others with the resources that he deemed God had given him.

Now, if you know much about the workings of the Roman government during this time in human history, you know that Cornelius’ generosity was an aberration among those of his profession. Oftentimes, instead of giving, Roman miliary officials used their power to take from non-Roman citizens—whatever they wanted and whenever they wanted.

The people who lived in Caesarea had to have taken notice of how different this man was from the others of his position. You know that his generosity got their attention. You know what, though? They weren’t the only ones whose attention his generosity garnered. Who else noticed Cornelius’ giving? God Himself! Yes! In Acts 10:4 we read “…And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.” God had heard Cornelius’ prayers and seen his generosity, and now it was time for him to reap the harvest he had sown.

Friends, some people think that material things, like money and the things it can buy, don’t matter to God, that the heart and spiritual things, like prayer, are all that He’s concerned about. Well, it’s very true that the condition of the heart of man is the most important thing to God, but evidently, according to Scripture, God pays attention to what we do with material things as well. Why? Because what we do with material things is a clear window into our hearts!

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.