24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
Acts 20:24
Dear God, this verse has been important to me for almost 35 years. I mentioned to my wife this morning that it was the verse of the day on Bible Gateway, and she asked if it still means as much to me as it did then. I said it does. What I see in this verse is that Paul was willing to walk the path of almost certain destruction (arrest, incarceration, and, ultimately, death) because that was the path you had for him as part of your will being done and your kingdom coming to earth. Should I be any different. If I have life circumstances that are seemingly unfavorable to me or even tragic, maybe that’s just the path you require in my life to mold me into who you need me to be and to mold the lives of others around me to mold them as well.
I was listening to a commentary this morning on Solomon. They talked about his the contradiction in how he asked for wisdom but then did not walk the path of the wise. The speaker suggested that his mistake was that he used his wisdom for his own glory and not for yours. He used it to amass his own fortune, even to the point of disobeying old commands from Deuteronomy about not bringing in horses from Egypt, so that he could have the best. He had the wisdom, but he did not have the humility. Ultimately, all of it corrupted him.
Father, I really don’t want my heart to be corrupted. I want any shred of wisdom I have to be directed towards you and your glory. I want to be at peace in the Holy Spirit regardless of my circumstances. I want to use any privilege I have, whether it be the unspoken privilege of my race or place in society or the financial and time resources you’ve given to me, to worship you with all my heart and love my neighbor as myself. My utmost for your highest, oh, Lord.
In Jesus’s name I pray,
Amen