For instance, I picked up a novel at the library. There is nothing wrong in reading a novel. However, this happens to be a page-turner with lots of pages and self-discipline has flown out the window. I’m not getting enough sleep. Last night after supper I read for hours when I should have been doing other things. I went to bed tired and annoyed with myself and woke up the same way. Then today’s devotional reading hits me with this verse:
But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)No amount of mind-juggling can soften the impact of Paul’s example of how to live as a Christian. No novels distracted him. Instead, his life was threatened, he’d been persecuted, and others Christians warned him not to move ahead. But he said that none of those things moved him. They were of no account and he did not lay them to heart. Nothing, no matter the cost, would drive him away from the task God had given him.
Although obeying God was more important than his own comfort, obedience did not make Paul a driven man. In the midst of his work, he was simply unconcerned about the distractions around him. His heart was in God’s will and he could look at both the ordinary stuff of this world and any threats from evil forces and say that none of it moved him. His own life was not dear to him.
That is amazing. Life for me is sweet. I am enjoying it, for the most part. But Paul says that his life does not matter compared to pleasing God and doing His will. I am convicted. I know that this shows the incompleteness of my faith. I see the value of the here and now, but know by faith that this life compared to the life to come is relatively nothing, even less than nothing. As one of my commentaries says, “it is not so dear but it can be cheerfully parted with for Christ.” Knowing it and living it are two different things.
Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Paul’s life explains what that means. Hating one’s life is not like the passion of Job or Jeremiah, but total submission to the will of God. That means Paul would die for Christ rather than deny Him. However, Paul was no dramatic proclaimer with a noble cause. He was resolved to die for Christ, but also to live for Him, to work hard in dangerous situations, to give up everything else including his personal comfort, for the cause of Christ. I’m not so dedicated.
Paul determined to be faithful and finish the ministry which Christ gave him. This was not for himself but for the Lord and for the souls of others. Jesus gave him this charge and the wherewithal to carry it out. To do less would be a denial of the lordship and power of Jesus Christ.
Not only that, all that Paul did was done by the grace of God. Such dedicated obedience was a testimony to that grace. Someone recently said that if the challenges of life are impossible, then God is in it. Paul was living proof of that power.
Paul wanted to finish well. He didn’t know when he would die or what the circumstances would be, but he knew that if he obeyed God that he would finish with joy, no regrets.
My life is also a race set before me. God did not put me on this earth to be idle or careless. I can rest and be refreshed, but not get off the track and do my own thing. This race course is not an oval track. It passes straight through the world, not round and round. Sometimes it is like running a gauntlet. Other times it is like a sprint, but it is always a marathon with a finish line.
Dying is the end of the race, a finish line that cannot be avoided or put off. Paul wanted to finish with honor and joy, not regret or shame. For him, nothing was too much to do, nor too hard to suffer. He was never distracted.
This is the example God sets before me. I can make excuses about having attention deficit problems, or about being only a housewife not a missionary, or that I’m just a senior and without much energy. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit will not let me. Too often I neglect spiritual duties because I am distracted and turned off course by the short-term stuff of this life. Reading a book may not be a sin, but tuning out the call of God means my priorities have slid off track.
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