"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, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."
what a difficult thing to follow God's calling, especially when He leads you to a difficult place. paul did not know exactly what was going to happen in detail; he only knew that it was going to be tough. and at the end of the day, he considers his own life nothing compared to the task that was given to him -- how selfless.
what have you found to be some of the most difficult things that God has asked you to do?
what did you gain from either doing or not doing what He asked you to do?
2 comments:
Pastor Dave, tell me do you think Paul was able to be so selfless because he was single?
Prof. Alvarez at FIU once told a very interesting anecdote about his life....his little son at the time (oh so long ago) took the lesson of helping others always to heart and one day brought a homeless guy home and asked his father to let him stay...Alvarez of course freaked out and said he couldnt...then his son asked him the obvious..."why not? arent we to help others?"
A revelation was given to Alvarez that day, we are selfish beings, the right thing to do was help the homeless etc but he had too much to lose...at least thats how he defined it...we cling on to things and thus do not w holey give ourselves to the ministry and the commandment God gave us...
Now is that to say we should abandon our family? Or should we be irresponsible and say God will take care of us (the family) and just go and put ourselves in danger for the sake of fulfilling completely the great commission(whether it be taking year long mission to establish churches in the middle east or just make economically unsound decisions based on faith)?
Its tough when i think about it...i know i will never be able to put my all into it because my heart will be split between God and family and friends and the wants of the I that comes with them....
In the end Paul had it easy...all he had to lose was his life...we have links with humans deeper than he did...but as a result he had a deeper connection with Christ...again this is not in anyway indicative of how God wouldnt want us to have families etc, but rather a simple explanation as to why we sometimes have to compromise how much we are ABLE to give...and do....
I would have to agree with the anonymous, Paul only had to break through the fact that his life is nothing, so he can do God's plan. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul says that he or she that is unmarried should keep to the Lord's affairs and those that are married should keep to the world's affairs- how he or she can please their spouse. I think there is a fine line between what is right and what is God's word. And like you once said, it might seem right, but it was not God's plan. Like when it says in the bible where that dude touched the ark of the covenant because it was falling and then died right there and ten. Well it's kind of like that.
We might want to be selfless, but sometimes we need to take our family into consideration. Being single is easy because you only need to worry about yourself and when you think your life nothing like Paul, then it's quiet easy to be selfless. Like I know it was hard for Paul to go through trials, but he had nothing holding him back. I'm not trying to give an excuse, but I'm just saying what i think.
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