“Be the Change You’re Asking For” is a poster slogan used to motivate the workplace to make a difference. If you need a poster of a cat and a rope telling you to hang in there, there may be other issues in your life that need to become a priority, but I digress.
When Jesus walked the earth, Rome was killing with impunity. Zealots were killing Romans along with anyone who was not passionate in killing Romans. The religious leaders of the day did not even believe in life after death and were more political than spiritual. Yet, Jesus reminded his people that they were the “Light of the World”, not something you had to do but a character issue of who you are.  You are the Light, be the change the world needs.
USA Today wrote an article stating that “faith groups provide the bulk of disaster recovery coordination with FEMA.”  That is being light in a dark world.
A terrible storm just destroyed a ship and left 276 people stranded on the island of Malta.  Cold, hungry, and depressed at the thought of losing everything, Paul decided to help in the recovery by bringing sticks to keep a warming fire going.  While building a fire a snake attaches itself to Paul’s hand with hopes to destroy him.  Paul shook it off and continued to minister to the survivors of the shipwreck.
Satan is known as a snake in the Bible, and while I do not believe this snake was satan, he will bite us and try to stop us from being the change that God intends us to be. If Paul was a normal person, he would have wanted to just sit by the fire and let someone else take care of keeping it going. After all, he was a storm survivor too. I am sure someone else who wasn’t in the storm could be the change they all so desperately needed.  Yet, God put something better than a motivational poster in Paul’s heart. He had the Holy Spirit of the Living God  empowering him to do what normal people could not do.  He was able to shake off the attack of the enemy that wanted to stop him from fulfilling his destiny. Romans, Zealots, a storm, or a poisonous snake bite are all small distractions in God’s eyes and are never an excuse to stop us from building a fire for those in need around us.
People around us are storm weary living in survivor mode. Seek to be completely controlled by the Spirit of God. He will empower us to shake off the bites  of the enemy sent to discourage us and be the Light of true change though Jesus Christ.