The Heat brought the viper, not his past(1)

THE HEAT BROUGHT THE VIPER, NOT HIS PAST.

“He is a murderer! karma has finally caught up with him! As they say, ‘no sinner will go unpunished!’ This is his time for his punishment. The snake knew who to bite. Why did it bite him and not us? Definitely, he is paying for an offense he once committed blah blah blah.” This is most likely the way the crowd spoke concerning Paul as illustrated in Acts 28 following the the snake bite.

Generally, people are quick to judge your present circumstance, most especially when they are familiar with your past. Here was apostle Paul on an island (Malta island) where rain was falling the weather, cold.  It was probably winter at the time. A fire was kindled to keep warm and after a while probably seconds or minutes, a viper came out!

This is explained in Acts 28:3-4, “But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘no doubt, this man is a murderer, whom though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live’.”

 

There and then, the natives started judging with no form of apology but the scripture makes it quite clear that the viper came out because of the heat and not his past. Even if God had sent the viper, it would be a sign to the natives who were unbelievers.  This will be fulfilling the scripture: These signs shall follow them that believe, …they will take up serpents…(Mark 16:16-18)

The Heat brought the viper, not his past(1)

This same attitude  displayed by the natives towards Paul is similar to the attitude of many of us. We are often quick to judge others because we know their past.  We associate their present predicament to their ugly past. Let me shock you, God dos not operate on the principle of karma, man does. God is not a man! If anyone is in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATURE, OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY. You are the one that remembers their past, God does not.

Many have wrongly said, the reason apostle Paul suffered persecution in ministry was because he had persecuted others. Nah! The preaching of the gospel is always accompanied with persecution. Apostle Peter and others were also persecuted and this was in no way traceable to their past but to the gospel they preached. (2 Corinthians 6: 4-10).

The next time your car refuses to start, know that it is not because the devil sat on it. The battery might be long overdue for change. The mosquitoes biting you now were not sent by demons, it is your dirty environment that accommodated them.

Yes, you were once a prostitute but now you are born again. God has forgiven you but the reason you have not given birth to a child you might say is probably because God still holds your sin against you. No! He does not. The devil has used your ignorance as a tool to put you in bondage. God has forgiven and forgotten your past deeds no matter how bad it may have been.

The new nature of God in you will produce a totally new conduct different from who you were. You have authority in Christ, exercise it just like Paul did. Your authority is not determined by how good you have been, it was conferred on you by Christ. Your responsibility is to use it.

To interpret Romans 8:1 in my words, I will say, “there is therefore now NO KARMA to those who are in Christ Jesus! Hallelujah!

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