Some years ago, a church I served bought some houses down the street from our buildings. Our intention was to pave the lots for parking as our church continued to grow. One day a neighbor called and informed us that he had seen a large snake enter a woodpile on our property. I called our administrative Pastor and asked him to ride down to the property with me. As we walked out to the brushpile, I explained to Ralph that there was a snake under there somewhere and that as soon as he disposed of it he could head back to the office. We laughed together, but we never did find that snake.
Paul found the snake in the brush on Malta. He survived the storm only to be bitten by a snake. Someone might have thought Paul was unlucky. But knowing Paul was a prisoner, the superstitious people on Malta decided he must be a murderer. Without knowing it, they espoused the idea of Karma. They watched to see if Paul would die. When Paul survived, they decided he was a god who had overcome the snake bite. On the scale of murderer to god, the islanders’ first assessment was closest to the truth. Paul was a murderer. But God did not strike him dead. Instead, God protected him.
Karma has become a popular theory in our day. This Hindu teaching assumes that what comes around, goes around. You ultimately get what you deserve. If you hurt someone, you will be hurt. This is the law of Karma. Your sins always find you out and repay what you deserve. But the Bible does not teach Karma. Later, in a letter to the Ephesians, Paul reminded them that he and they deserved wrath for their mistakes. So do we. But God made us alive and saved us by grace (Ephesians 2:3-5).
What will we do with our second chance? We could give our lives back to the God who spared us. As his masterpiece, we do the good works he prepared for us to do. This is a good time to do good. After we do good to all people for all of our days, we get to head home to our Father. What a gift!
