Description
The Philippian Jailor
“At that late hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds, and there and then he and his whole family were baptised.” Acts 16:33.
In our churches today, it is very easy to become despondent and discouraged. Few people seem interested in our message. We see relatively few people become Christians, either quickly as seems to be the case here, or more slowly over a period of time. Even less seem willing to investigate our message let alone take it seriously in their lives.
It is important therefore for us to remind ourselves that God does act in peoples lives- sometimes, (but not always) in a spectacular way – to bring them to the point of making a decision about their future direction. We can remind ourselves by reading accounts in the Bible and pondering them – or indeed by reading more modern Christian literature. Here we take a look at the experience of Paul’s jailer, to see what we can learn from it.
First, his job. What can we learn from that?
He was the jailer, of cause! Yes but what does that tell us about him?
Well - he had a steady job for a start. He would have no fear of unemployment. Ever since people began living together in communities, there have been people who break the rules of those communities. Such people have to be dealt with, appropriately, for the good of both the community and of the offender themselves.
Continues…