Today’s Bible reading is 2 Kings 23 and Acts 28.
After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. (Acts 28:1-2)
Unusual. The “unusual” is uncommon. The “unusual” is rare. The “unusual” makes people curious because it’s peculiar. The “unusual” stands out like a sore thumb in the usual of the common.
Two-thousand years ago, Luke–the author of the New Testament Acts of the Apostles–was with Paul and many others who suffered a terrible shipwreck on a tiny island in the Mediterranean called Malta. The first thing Luke tells us about the people who lived on that island? They were “unusually kind.”
What a great reminder and goal to adopt as we head into the weekend. To whom can you be “unusually kind” over the next few days?
The new neighbors? The grocery store cashier? The spouse you’ve been taking for granted? The elderly brother or sister in Christ at the nursing home? The young person leaving town to start college? The deacon who has served the local church for years behind the scenes? That grumpy person who was recently unkind to you? The new faces in your pew on Sunday morning?
Of all the people in all the world, the heaven-bound ought to be known for many “unusual” things. One of them? The showing of “unusual kindness.”
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:32)