Farewell to Ephesians
Day 520, Tuesday, Jan. 13
Acts 20:13-38
As Paul prepares to head for Jerusalem, Paul stops at Miletus, a city on the Aegean Sea. He sends for the elders of the church at Ephesus, which, while only about 35 miles away, would likely be a three-day journey by foot at the time.
He bids them farewell and says he will not return to Ephesus. He does not know what will happen to him in Jerusalem, but knows that there is more danger and hardship ahead. “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.”
Paul is deeply concerned to assure them that he has faithfully proclaimed to them the whole will of God, and to warn them that after he leaves others will come who will attempt to undermine his teaching. “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.”
One of the ways Paul tries to witness to his own faithfulness is to remind them that he has not taken from them materially while with them. “You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
-Rev. Mark Fleming
Tuesday meditation
Psalms 62:1-12
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down—this leaning wall, this tottering fence? Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Surely the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”
Prayer focus
God, grant us the wisdom to see what task you have set before us, and the courage and strength to fulfill that task.