Tag: Malta
Showing Kindness to Others
When Paul and the other prisoners were shipwrecked on the island of Malta, the islanders showed unusual kindness to them. They built a fire, welcomed them, and entertained them. Luke says that "they also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed" (Acts 28:10 ESV).
A few things about this story are intriguing. After a horrifying ship wreck, the prisoners managed to make it to the island unharmed. There were guards, so the islanders had to have known that this big group of stranded people were prisoners. But they treated them with unusual kindness. And that kindness was reciprocated.
These were pagan people who first thought Paul was a god then later thought he was a god. Paul healed a man named Publius' father, who lay sick. Then the rest of the people on the island who were sick came and were healed.
So often Christians have a misconception that unbelievers are evil, corrupt, immoral, and so on. But this is a good reminder that there are a lot of kind people out there and that, as Christians, we should treat them with kindness like we should with each other. God blessed the Christians, prisoners, and islanders for those days that they spent on the island. We need to remember that God is the same today. He blesses our conversations and relationships with everyone. We should do good to everyone.
Photo by Drew Farwell on Unsplash