ACTS 20:18-24 – “And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

THEME OF THE DAY: KEEPING ON MISSION.  The greatest Christian ever to live was the Apostle Paul.  From his radical conversion by the Lord Jesus on the Damascus Road to his imprisonment for the faith, we have in the inspired Word of God the written account of this great man of God. We are given a profound look into the life of the one who was the chief instrument to write almost the entire New Testament and model for us what a totally consecrated person to Jesus Christ looks like.

Of all the qualities found in the Apostle Paul, the one we see in today’s scripture challenges us. Why?  It is greatly opposed by the devil. It is easily forgotten in the culture of distraction in which we find ourselves.  The challenge?  Keeping on mission.  From the moment Christ apprehended us and salvation was ours, we entered into a lifelong mission.  God enlists us in His army on a specific mission that excuses no believer. It is the mission of the gospel; of knowing Jesus so as to make Him known in word and deed.  The mission covers all of life, our homes, neighborhoods, communities, workplaces, churches, social circles, family, extended family, friends, and the whole of humanity.  And this mission starts afresh each day.

As we read today’s account of the Apostle Paul, pay attention to what consumed him. It was his mission; his mission to make Jesus known.  The Lord Jesus calls this the Great Commission – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). But the mission doesn’t stop with proclaiming the good news of Jesus and making disciples of Him.  There is another important application to our mission.  We may call it affirming the Gospel.

To affirm the Gospel of the Lord Jesus means to practice what we proclaim.  It is to give evidence by our lifestyle and priorities that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we live under His authority, will, and desires.  The Apostle Paul affirms some young believers in Thessalonica that they were on mission. They serve us well as examples – “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything” (1 Thess. 1:4-8).

That, friends, is what it means to live on mission.   May we live like Paul, and the Thessalonians. Afterall, that is why the Lord left us here!

PRAYER: Father, help me not to lose sight that I am in this world to make Your Son known in word and deed.

REFLECTION:  Christians are on a lifelong mission of making all of life about Jesus – every area of life.