Luke now gives quite a detailed account of the beginning of Paul’s journey to Rome (v1-8). The ‘we’ (v1) shows that Luke the writer of the book was a travelling companion with Paul on this journey. This all reminds us that the biblical accounts are accurate reports of historical events given by eyewitnesses to those events.

Christianity is not based on some made up theory, but real events in the life of the prophets, apostles and particularly of Jesus. When people ask how they can know if Christianity is true, we can do no better thing than to encourage them to read these historical accounts.

Paul warns that the journey is going to end in disaster (v9-10). Paul is ignored as the centurion listens instead to the pilot and continues on (v11-12).

Regularly we are faced with the same choice as the centurion, to follow the advice of the wise of the world or to follow the teaching of God’s prophets in scripture. ‘The righteous will live by faith’ (Rom. 1 v17) and this means trusting and living by God’s words above the world’s wisdom. Pray for God’s grace for you to know and follow His wisdom rather than the world’s ways.