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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.

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