Skip to main content

Our Only Aim

           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 20:24)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37-39)

Paul had a singular focus. Some might have said that he had tunnel vision. There was one thing, and one thing alone that mattered to him. On the road to Damascus, Jesus had given him a job to do, and nothing else mattered. Everything revolved around that one thing.

I’ve known some people obsessed in that way. Nothing else matters but their team, their show, their family, their career. According to the second passage above, we should all be similarly dominated by what is ultimately the same thing as Paul: to love God and love our neighbors as they should be loved.

But, oh, the struggle. Where does writing, crafting, gardening, working, walking the dog, reading, cooking, canning, or even doing housework fit in that? Of course, Paul was a tentmaker, but his making tents was a means to the end of proclaiming Christ. And when we read about him in the book of Acts, or read his words, we might find ourselves thinking that his life was a lot simpler than it was. After all, Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and told him what His will was with regard to Paul’s life. I’ve been guided. I know I’ve been guided, but not with a long-term perspective provided. I’m going along the road of my life and trusting that God will tell me where the exits are.

And a closer reading of Acts suggests that Paul wasn’t without dilemmas and struggles. There was the thorn in the flesh. There was the argument that separated him from Barnabas. There were the escapes and the times of being blocked from going where he thought he was supposed to go.

Regardless, Paul’s goal should be ours – to complete the task God has given us, and to the extent that we don’t know what that is, the next best thing is to live in such a way that if God were to call us to do something specific, we would be ready, willing, and able to respond.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more