Proclamation:
“And
now, compelled by The Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will
happen to me there. I only know that in
every city The Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing
me. However, I consider my life worth
nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task The Lord
Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:22-24 (NIV)
Explanation:
These
words were written by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy
Spirit of God. Here Luke records that
the apostle Paul, after travelling through Macedonia and Greece, (Acts 20:1-6) raising
the dead boy in Troas, (Acts 20:7-12) and after arriving in Miletus, sent for
the elders of the church. (Acts 20:17) He told them that he had been compelled by The
Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem. He also
said that The Holy Spirit had warned him that prison and hardships lay ahead of
him (Acts 20:23) and that they would not see him again. (Acts 20:25)
Application:
None of us are going to live forever. Our physical death is a part of living, the
end of it. Some people know or can feel when
the end of life is near. Paul said that
his life was worth nothing to him (Acts 20:24) but what was important was
finishing the task which The Lord Jesus had given to him. Some
of the apostles and the early disciples considered it an honor to suffer in the
name of The Lord or for doing His work. The
Bible says blessed are you when men shall persecute you for His sake. (Exodus
20:11) We need to get to that point
where doing the work of The Lord is more important than anything else, even
more important than life itself. The Lord
said that He would never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) Our primary goal is, or should be, to finish
the race and complete the task which The Lord God has given to us. If it be His will that we die while doing His
work, then so be it. In the end we want
to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant …” (Matthew 25:21)
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