Acts 28:1-10 – Paul ashore on Malta
- “God sees the heart… thank goodness”
- Paul and his fellow travelers land on shore and whilst making a fire – he is bitten by a viper.
- At first the locals expect him to die and assume that he must be a murderer if he escaped the ship but then the gods caught up with him on their island.
- But he does not die.
- So quickly they go to the other extreme and now presume instead that he is a god.
- “People look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7
- Firstly I think we would all be glad that God looks at our heart but I must also be careful not to be fooled by outward appearances.
- The Phoenicians who lived on this island at the time had a primitive understanding of gods and yet don’t we often judge others in the same way?
- Does our fickle understanding of people based on their circumstances influence our opinion of them?
- And does that reflect to us something about our understanding of God Himself?
- We must be careful because in the same way that we judge other so God will judge us and in the same way that we measure others so he will measure us.
- Praying for an insight into God’s heart that will give me insight into people’s hearts.
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