Title: What you gain in pain
Contents
It must have been painful for Paul to meet the storm. However, it is very important to discover the benefits of this suffering. Through today's text, I want to share grace with you while examining what you gain through the pain of storms.
1. When suffering deepens, people discover the most precious thing in life.
What is the most precious thing in our life? is it money? Are you healthy? is it power? no. That's life.
As the storm deepens, the sailors unpack their belongings into the sea. Acts 27:18 says, “We struggled very hard in a storm, and the next day the sailors unpacked the load into the sea.” However, the storm got worse and now the ship's balloons are thrown away. Acts 27:19 says, “On the third day, they threw away the vessels of the ship with their own hands.” Later, even the wheat is thrown into the sea. Acts 27:38 says, “They ate enough, and threw the wheat into the sea to lighten the boat.”
When the storm deepens, the most precious thing is life. Paul realized that the most important thing was to save all the lives of the 276 people on the ship. When the sailors put down their barges, or lifeboats, to escape only for themselves, Paul convinces the volleyball court and the soldiers that they need to catch the crew to save all lives. In Acts 27:30-32, even lifeboats are thrown away to catch them.
Until the storm comes, people forget their priorities in life. We live while forgetting what is most precious in life. But Jesus always taught us priorities. Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The important thing in this verse is the word ‘first’. What we should seek first is the kingdom and righteousness of God. Eternal life, heaven. What we should seek is not the visible, the invisible, but the eternal.
So a wise person is one who knows what to let go of and what to take. What should we give up and what should we take in our lives? No matter how prosperous you are on this earth, if you do not receive eternal life, you are missing out on the most precious thing. But even if you lose everything on this earth, if you gain eternal life, believe that you have seized the most precious thing...