Altogether there were 276 of us on board.
Being a serious student of Jesus has risks. That’s because the Teacher we follow did not choose the path of safety. Not for Himself and so not for those who seek to become more like Him!
Paul is a prisoner on his way to Rome. It is his fourteenth night in a horrifying sea storm.
Did Paul long for the comforts of his home? Was there a moment when he regretted the day he went on his first missionary journey? Probably not!
This isn't Paul’s first experience with suffering. Deprivations, death threats, discomforts, dangers and even stoning have happened to him already. He has experienced God’s faithfulness in many other desperate situations.
Paul seems calm in the midst of the shipwreck. He’s actually giving the orders now. He’s keeping his head when all around others are losing theirs!
He tells them to take some food, not because it is their last meal, but because they will need their strength. They will survive!
The ship will break apart, but not before Paul and the other 275 persons reach the safety of an island.
Students of Jesus, like their Teacher before them, take risks. They move out of their comfort zones. Get involved in helping solve the problems of those suffering around them and they suffer too!
Look at the life of our Teacher! One so radically different from the norm! The principle difference was his relationships to hurting and even dangerous people around him.
Paul suffers shipwreck because he chose to live the same kind of risky life. It is also the most interesting and rewarding way to live!
Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it!
No comments:
Post a Comment