Acts 20:13-24
English Standard Version (ESV)
13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for
Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending
himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on
board and went to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there we came the following day
opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; andthe day after that we went
to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so
that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be
at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the
elders of the church to come to him. 18 And
when they came to him, he said to them:
“You yourselves know how I lived among
you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,19 serving
the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that
happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you
anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to
house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance
toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And
now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the
Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except
that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment
and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value
nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the
ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the
gospel of the grace of God.
(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2020:%2013-24&version=ESV)
Paul
traveled a lot, there is no doubt about that! He traveled with a purpose and
was guided by the Holy Spirit. Sounds a
little like the desert doesn’t it? The
only difference is that he knew who was leading Him and He trusted Him fully. Sometime I think that the Jewish people
forgot who was leading them or they would not have complained so much. Ouch, that hurts! Sometimes I can compare myself to the Jews, I
find myself complaining as the journey of life continues on. In this scripture we do not see Paul feeling
sorry for himself, rather he states the facts as they are. Paul was a man that
had the will of the Father to speak His words and he did so by going to the church
and house to house. So many times we
tend to think that the only place we can share is at church but we should be
sharing day by day, going into the homes sharing with both believers and
unbelievers so His words can be known to all.
Our
mouths should speak words of encouragement but also reprimand when we see another
fellow believer slipping away from the faith.
Our actions should be actions that only reflect the light of
Christ. If we live this way, we can see,
like Paul, that it isn’t our life at all and it is worth nothing compared to
the hope that we have in what is to come.
The ultimate truth is that nothing matters more than to be with Christ,
not to cling to this old world, but to know that when we go to Him, we have
accomplished all that He wanted us to accomplish on this earth.
None of
us know our future nor did Paul. He had
warnings form the Holy Spirit that life was going to be rough, that trouble
awaited him but he was confident that through Jesus Christ that he would
endure. He knew that if his life would
be taken that there was more to this life than what we see now. He knew that if his life was taken that he
would be ultimately responsible to God as to actions of speaking and living the
Word of God and he was ready.
What
about us? Are we ready to travel out of
a suitcase in order to share the Gospel?
Life on the road is not an easy one but with the Holy Spirit guiding,
how much more fun could that be? Are we
ready to go to our brothers/sisters home and share words of encouragement and
strength or is that just a Sunday thing?
Are we willing to share our homes with others so that we can be
encouragers? Are we too busy with this
life that we forget about the future we have in Christ?
As we
seek Him today may we find Him encouraging us to press on to the finish line
for which we have been called through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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