What is Your Personal Mission in Life?

22 “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. 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.25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you

These words are spoken by Paul as he says farewell to the Ephesian elders.  The church of Ephesus was probably the strongest and most strategic of the early churches.  Most of the time we see Paul the evangelist, but in these verses we also see the heart of a pastor. Though Paul knows through visions and prophetic words that trouble awaits him wherever he goes, he is single mindedly focused on finishing the race well.  Paul summarizes his personal mission statement like this: "The task of testifying to the good news of God's grace". Paul adds that compared to this mission God had personally given him, his life meant nothing to him.  

Here are some things for us to consider as we hear Paul's words from Acts 20.

1. Are we as clear on our life's mission as Paul was?  Does our life mission have anything to do with testifying to the grace we have personally received in Christ Jesus?  Notice Paul could only testify to that which he had personally experienced meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. Similarly our life mission flows out of our relationship with Christ.  John 15 reminds us, "Without him we can do nothing." 

2. Where are you at in the race?  None of us know how many days God will give us to live on this earth.  But generally speaking, we are either fairly new to the race, or we have been running the race for a long time.  When I have run marathons, I never focused on someone else's race.  My only goal was to finish my race.  I had obstacles to face that no one else did.  I had a certain amount of endurance and speed, but ultimately I had to choose to finish well.  Are you in the race fighting through "quitting points", or are you wanting to give up and step out of the race?  Look for people who will encourage you to run and finish well. 

3. Are you clear on the message of the gospel?  Paul's task was to testify to the Good News of God's grace!  As believers we have the best news the world has ever heard.  We proclaim the nature of God as good, loving and that he chose to save us by sending His own Son.  We proclaim that we can't justify ourselves and fall far short of God's pure moral standards.  We proclaim that it is no amount of good deeds we can do to become right with God.  God did everything we needed to be saved from sin which eventually kills all of us.  God does it all.  We only trust in what He has promised to us by faith.  It is all about trust in God not ourselves.

Finally, you don't have to be a pastor or missionary or paid church leader to live like Paul did. You can fulfill God's calling in your family, in your work and on your block (especially right now during COVID).  There was no better feeling than finishing the marathon and completing the race I trained for. It gave me great satisfaction.   I can't wait to finish the race God has given me to run as well.  I am sure Paul received quite a welcome when the Lord took him home.  May we run well and in our own way testify to the good news of God's grace wherever God places us in this world.  It is task and mission worth dying for. 



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