Priority

“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

What is your life ultimately about? Is your life's purpose to provide for you family, or to find happiness, or to live life to fullest, or to help out the less fortunate? Most of us spend 40 hours a week or better working our fingers to the bone. Then on our nights and weekends we spend more time pouring into our families, our homes, and our communities. Why? What is all this ultimately about?

The Apostle Paul clarifies that our lives are ultimately about only one thing: testifying to the good news of God's grace. The above passage is an excerpt from Paul's speech to the Ephesian elders. He is saying goodbye to his friends as he journeys to Jerusalem. Even as the Spirit leads Paul to go to Jerusalem, He is continually warning him that he will be arrested and face persecution once he arrives. Paul continues on to Jerusalem anyway. Why? Because Paul considered his life worth nothing when compared to his mission of testifying to the gospel. He was prepared to lose his life if it meant that he could complete this mission. In fact, once Paul arrived in Jerusalem and was arrested we believe he spent approximately the next five years in various forms of imprisonment before being released. Church tradition tells us that later he was rearrested and martyred for his faith in Jesus. 

Where does testifying to the good news of the gospel fall on your priority list? When was the last time you told anyone about the gospel or publicly associated with Jesus? Now some clever Christian might to try to weasel out of his conviction at this moment by reasoning that Paul was called to a higher level of commitment as a an apostle/pastor/missionary. But I think this is wrong. While it is true that God has placed a special call on the lives of apostles, missionaries and pastors, all Christians are responsible for being a witness to the good news of grace in Christ Jesus. In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul says this: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). This isn't true only of apostles but of all Christians. So then, if we no longer live, but Christ lives in us, then shouldn't our priorities match Christ's? Yes! All of us are called to testify to the goodness of the gospel. In fact, that is our most important job this side of heaven.

So I ask you again, are you telling others about Jesus? I pray that God brings to your mind at least one person right now that you can talk to about Jesus, and I pray that you will do it.

For further reading...   

• Phil 1:12-18- Note that the Gospel increased because of Paul's imprisonment.

Never Stop Praying for the Lost

Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

Acts 8:1-3

If anyone has ever qualified to be beyond the reach of God's grace, it was Saul. But of course we know the story of Saul. He was so changed by a post-resurrection visit from Jesus that he became the Apostle Paul. He wrote much of the New Testament and was the leading missionary of the early church. We know this story so well that we can tend to gloss over it. We fail to see the hope that it gives us. Saul went from being a man who imprisoned and enjoyed the martyrdom of Christians to a man who was so in love with Jesus that he himself suffered for his refusal to deny Christ, and was eventually martyred himself.

But imagine meeting a first century believer who might have known Saul before his conversion, when he still hated Jesus. This friend would tell us that he wants Saul to believe, but what can he do? "Maybe you can show him from the Scriptures that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah," we say. But he points out that Saul is a gifted student of the Bible. Saul knows the Bible better than our friend does and he is a far superior debater. "Perhaps you can impress on Saul his need for forgiveness," we suggest. But our friend would point out that Saul is nearly flawless in keeping the law. Saul is as righteous as any man he has ever known. Saul is also keenly aware of his own righteousness and will vehemently defend it if need be. So that won't work. What can our friend do? He desperately wants Saul to come to know the joy he has found in Jesus but he is tempted to give up.

It is easy to imagine how a believer in this situation might feel. "There is no hope left for my old friend now," he might think. "There is simply no way that a man like Saul will ever surrender his will to Jesus." Perhaps you have a friend or a family member that you feel this way about. "There is simply no way that he or she will ever accept Jesus," you think. But you would be wrong to give up hope on them just like our imaginary first century friend would have been wrong to give up hope on Saul. Jesus Himself said "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

Perhaps you have a friend or a family member who has resisted all of your attempts to tell them about Jesus. Perhaps they have even refused Christ for many years. Are you going to give up on them? Are they simply beyond God's reach? NO! Never stop praying for someone's salvation simply because it seems impossible that they will accept Christ. God is a god of the impossible, and He is still in the business of saving souls. Trust Him and pray like their souls depend on it. 

For further reading...

• Matthew 19:16-26- The rich man rejects Jesus.
• Luke 18:1-8- The Parable of the Persistent Widow
• Luke 11:1-13 (especially v. 5-13)- This is how you ought to pray.
• Spend some time in prayer for one or more people you know who need Christ.

God Subverts Pain

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

Since it is God's expressed purpose for His children to one day trade in their mortal bodies for immortal, heavenly ones, it makes perfect sense that He would subvert the pain of death and growing old (which is brought on by our sin) to His own purposes such that even this pain would cause us to groan more longingly for heaven. The aches and pains of growing old can little-by-little help tear us away from our attachment to this earth and to these earthly bodies. The frustration and discomfort we feel can actually serve as fuel to cause us to long all the more intensely for heaven and for our resurrection bodies.

The simple truth is that we cannot receive our heavenly bodies until we have first been stripped of these earthly bodies. Some believers lose their life and vitality in a moment. Others endure long drawn out battles with pain, sickness, and death. The slow tearing away of a person's health and vitality, as terrible as it is, can be used for the Christian's good if he will trust God. It can be that the crippled man's daily hardship serves as a reminder that no one will be crippled in heaven. His disability can actually be a spiritual asset. Paul the apostle struggled with a "thorn in the flesh." Paul found peace after God revealed to him that God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Your physical disability, your physical suffering, can be the weakness that God uses to work His strength in your life to focus your spirit all the more intently on heaven.

So the next time you want to curse that bad knee or bad back or even that reoccurring cancer, don't. Accept it as from the Lord. Let God work it to your good. Instead of groaning, "Why, Lord!?" Groan, "When, Lord? Oh, when will I be free of these troublesome pains in heaven with you?" Let His strength be made perfect in your weakness. 

For further reading...

• 2 Corinthians 12:1-10- Read about the Apostle Paul's thorn and God's strength in our weakness.
• Romans 8:18-39- Read about how God works our suffering for our good.

Debt of Gratitude

...we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

You can't become a Christian without participating in the death of Christ. In order to live the new life that Christ offers, you first must die to your old way of living, to your old self. You must repent of your sin and leave it behind, surrendering your will for obedience to Christ. Only once you have died like this can you be made a new creation in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" This aspect of belief is pictured beautifully in baptism. During baptism, the convert is plunged beneath the water symbolizing her participation in Christ's death. She must be symbolically buried with Him in this way before she can be raised up out of the water to live a new life. But what is the nature of this new life? 

2 Corinthians 5:14 says that Christ died for us that so that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Him. Take the time to really think about this sentence. It is a radical thought! No Christian on earth right now should be living for himself. All of us should be living our lives day in and day out solely for Christ. Imagine how different our world would be if all believers did this! Imagine how different your life would be if you did it. 

I can't help but remember the many movies that have played off a similar theme. Usually it runs something like this: The main hero in the story saves a man's life, and from that moment on the man owes the hero a debt of gratitude. He must follow him around and serve him continuously until he repays the debt. Only, you and I can never repay the debt we owe to Jesus. So we are called to follow Him and serve Him continuously our whole lives out of gratitude. Are you living for Jesus in this way? In what ways are you still living for yourself? For others? What do you need to leave behind or lay down today to really begin living for Jesus? 

Father, help us to live for You!

For further reading... check out the entire book of 2 Corinthians.