Acts 20:24 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.
This verse is the focus of what I want us to think about today but when we come to a verse that starts out with “however” we need to go back and look at what is being said before so we have a better understanding of what the verse means.
Acts 20:22-23 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not
knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the
Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me
The Spirit was telling Paul it was time to go to Jerusalem and he responded by going even though he didn’t know what the outcome would be. He knew there was a good chance he could end up in prison or face other forms of persecution. We read in verse 24 that none of that matters to him. His life isn’t anything unless he is doing what God has called him to do.
We get so caught up in what we want to do, what we think we should do, or what others are telling us to do that we forget our number one priority is to do what the Spirit leads us to do even if we don’t know how it is all going to turn out. Paul’s focus was on doing what God wanted him to do.
Paul tells us what the Spirit wanted him to do, “to testify to the good news of God’s grace.” That was his task, his focus and his goal in life. When I read that verse I have a really hard time believing that only Paul or a few people are called to do that. I believe as Christians, sharing the good news of God’s grace is what all of us are called to do! Jesus isn’t walking the earth anymore preaching and teaching. He wants us to be the ones that are telling others about Him. Telling others how much he loves them, that he died for them and rose again. Telling others of the experience we had when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. When we have good news what do we do? We share it! “I am pregnant!” “I passed a big test!” “We won the big game!” We are quick to share good news when it happens to us. It is time we share the greatest news of all!
What is your task in life? What is your focus, your goal? For years mine focused around my job of teaching and coaching. It was what I thought about, what I spent time doing and what I thought was important. It was great to get to work with kids and impact them in a positive way while building some amazing relationships. The problem was my focus was on teaching them math or making them better football players or basketball players when it should have been focused on where will they spend eternity. How can I through teaching and sports help point these kids to Christ. Even know with that being my goal it is still hard to do. It is still a challenge that often times I feel like I am failing at. It seems like satan is working against it making some kids and situations even more challenging. I try to tell myself what Jesus tells us in John 13:34 “…Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The best thing I can do is love on them and share my story with them.
If you have never experienced God’s grace and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior I pray that you make the decision that decision today! If you have I pray you will spend time in prayer and honestly evaluating what your task in life is. Pray that God will give you the opportunity to share his good news and grace. Pray that you will have the wisdom, courage and strength to step up when the opportunity arrises! By your sharing May God Be Glorified!