Read: Acts 27:27-44
As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing.” (v. 33)
Everything about Paul’s demeanor and his actions challenge me to be more like him—as he, in turn, is being shaped so much like Jesus. In Matthew’s gospel we are given this moving description of Jesus’s attentiveness to the crowds who followed him: “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat” (Matt. 15:32). Compare that with Paul calling out to the sailors, who I hasten to remind you were his captors (Acts 27:33). What compassion! And this gives us an insight into the apostle’s admonition to the brothers and sisters in Galatia: “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone” (Gal. 6:10).
We, as followers of Jesus, are being summoned to act like him. We are the hands and feet of Jesus in the places we live and work. Every action we take and every relationship we have with those who neither know nor love Jesus is our opportunity to play the role of Jesus in our world. C. S. Lewis puts this so poignantly in his book Mere Christianity: “Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”
Jesus had compassion on the crowds. Paul cared for the sailors. Now it’s our turn!
As you pray, ask God to shape you to be like him.
Dr. Timothy Brown is the Henry Bast Professor of Preaching and President Emeritus at Western Theological Seminary where he served from 1995-2021. Tim continues to actively coach and encourage former students and pastors who seek help in their preaching life and he has become a certified public school substitute teacher so that he can continue investing in the lives of young people. He is married to Nancy and together they have three children and ten grandchildren.
