It's not what you think!

"they changed their minds"

Acts 28:6

Acts 28 contains the rather famous story of Paul being bitten by a viper, but then calmly shaking the creature off his hand.   It's an inspiring example of Paul's faith, evident in his response to the snake; but also of God's protection.  In Mark 16, Jesus said, "Those who follow Me... will take up serpents, and they will by no means hurt them."

But what intrigues me in this particular reading of this passage, is the reaction of the natives who lived on Malta.  Verse 4 says that when they saw the viper hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "This man must be a murderer."  They thought that the universe was trying to exact revenge for his crime, first through the shipwreck in chapter 27, and when that didn't work, with the viper.

The irony is that Paul is on his way to Rome to go to trial before Caesar.  He has been accused of crimes he did not commit, back in Jerusalem, and now he is judged as a murderer.

But while the Maltese natives watch, Paul suffers no ill-effects from the snake bite.  And when they saw no harm come to him, verse 6 tells us, they changed their minds and decided that he must be a god.

Wrong again.

They were making these judgements based on circumstances, which although very tempting, is very wrong.  Judgement can be sometimes automatic ~ we see, we judge.  And it doesn't necessarily mean judging in a cruel or critical way, we're just deciding something must be the case.   But it's dangerous, and it's disobedient.

You know far less of any given situation than you think you do.  And you've probably come to a wrong conclusion about someone in your life, whether it's your spouse, your neighbor, or that guy who cut you off on the freeway.  Pray to see others through His eyes, and for the ability to love your neighbor as you love yourself.   And pray that others will do the same for you.

“People look at the outward appearance, 

but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7