Scripture passage that caught my attention today: Acts 28:1-6. After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The natives showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us around it. 3 Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, when a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.
Observation: Nothing against the natives, since they were obviously quite kind, but their opinion of Paul clearly swung from one extreme to the other, simply based on whether or not he died from the bite of the viper.
Application: A current debate in the United States today revolves around pending legislation in some states (including the state in which I live) related to public employee benefits and the right to collectively bargain. The most focal figures in these states are naturally the governors who are proponents of the controversial legislation. I can’t comment from an informed standpoint in regard to the other states but, in the case of my own, we are experiencing a new governor. And so the governor (whom I do not know at all personally or very well in terms of his political views) has gone from being at least popular enough to win an election to, in some cases, a viral enemy.
Please don’t misunderstand; I am neither defending the governor nor chastising him. I am simply observing that, much like in Paul’s day, public opinion can get fired up and swing from one side to the other remarkably quickly. And of course the truth is seldom found in either extreme. After all, Paul was neither a murderer nor a ‘god.’
Prayer: Lord, I personally do not know the answers, but please grant wisdom to all who engage in this worthy debate. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
(readings today included: Numbers 8-9 and Acts 28)
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