Lighten the Load

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

LIGHTEN THE LOAD

Acts 27:33-38

33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. "For the last fourteen days," he said, "you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food — you haven't eaten anything. 34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head." 35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board. 38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

NIV

Paul encourages the others on onboard to eat so they will survive, assuring them that not one of them will lose a single hair from their head. That is quite a statement of faith, yet was it faith, or was it straight from the mouth of God? Paul also demonstrated his faith in the Almighty God of heaven and earth when he took the bread and gave thanks to God in front of all 276 souls  onboard. That is reminiscent of when Jesus took the bread and broke it, giving thanks to God before he gave it to his disciples to eat. Nevertheless, here is a prisoner of the Roman guards, leading the way in giving thanks to God and encouraging them all that they will be saved.  It did not matter his place in the world, his position in life, where he was, or what circumstances he found himself in; he was going to serve his Lord and speak up for God. Here is where we should enter this conversation and always be an encourager to others, assuring them of God's power to save them and that they will not lose a single hair from their heads. Of course, we do lose some hair as we get a little older, but the metaphor holds true. When we are resurrected, we will be in all the fullest glory of the representation of Jesus. That is, we will be in a completely glorified form, able to leap buildings in a single bound, or, rather, be able to travel at the speed of thought. At least something like that, for Jesus, in his glorified form, appeared in a locked room. Whatever form we are in, we will not have lost a single hair on our heads; we will be saved. As the crew began to prepare for the ship to run aground, they lightened it further by throwing all the grain overboard. This would have meant the ship would be higher in the water and possibly make it farther to a place of safety. We wonder if we can use that as an example of how we should throw some things into the sea. Have we tossed those attitudes that weigh us down? Have we thrown bitterness, unforgiveness, criticism, ill or hurt feelings, envy, jealousy, pride, boastfulness, anger, or a host of other attitudes or feelings overboard to lighten our lives so we can reach the place of safety? We know it is God who saves us, but at the same time, the Lord desires that we rid ourselves of what weighs us down. He sent the Spirit to help us lighten the load.