Be a reason for thanksgiving

Scripture Reading: Acts 28:11-16

The journey to Rome had to be emotionally and physically exhausting for Paul. Not only had he suffered shipwreck along the way, on arrival he faced the prospect of imprisonment and death. Luke puts it stoically, “And so we came to Rome.”

But on their arrival, some of the brethren received word that Paul had come. They quickly made the long trek to the port and found Paul and his companions. And “one seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.”

We, I think, tend to think of Paul in unrealistic ways. We don’t think of him as a man like us with the same kinds of weaknesses and struggles, fears and doubts we experience. We place him on a pedestal of super-spiritual superiority. It is understandable. He wrote so much of the infallible New Testament that we end up subtly transferring infallibility to him as a man.

So, I’m glad we are occasionally reminded of Paul’s human weaknesses. And one of the ways God expressed grace to Paul was through the presence and fellowship of brothers in Christ. Their presence bolstered Paul’s spirit and gave him a renewed sense of courage to face what was to come.

Paul thanked God for them.

I want to be the kind of person who gives my brethren a reason to thank God.