Do not Shrink

I heard Dr. Johnny Hunt at a conference a couple months ago say that many people "want the fruit of Paul's ministry without having to undergo the suffering of Paul's journeys." I'm always so encouraged and humbled when I read about the life of Paul. His obedience was so obvious. His passion was undeniable. He was, (you guessed it!) INTENTIONAL. Recently, the Lord laid on my heart a new life verse. I read it a few weeks ago and I just haven't been able to shake it out of my heart. It comes from Acts 20:26-27...

²⁶ "I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault,²⁷ for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know."

I was completely stunned by Paul's straight forwardness in this verse. He was so confident that He was walking in complete obedience of God's will for His life that he could utter the words that He had proclaimed everything that God wanted the people of Ephesus to know. Paul knew that the blood of those whom suffered eternal death would not be on his hands. Just a few verses before in Acts 20:24 Paul exclaims that he consider his life nothing unless he used it for God's work. So often I'm guilty of considering what I get out of doing God's work more important than what I put in to God's work.

It is my prayer that sharing the message of salvation will be so important to me that I will never miss an opportunity to share it. I think a lot of times as Christians we pray "God, give me opportunities to share" when really we should be praying "God, make me AWARE of the opportunities you give me". Just like Paul, we all have opportunities to share God's love and the message of salvation all the time. Whether it be through our testimony, the way we live, or straight up sharing the gospel, too often we overlook these God-given tasks.

One day, I want to serve a person or group of people in a way that I can proclaim the same thing Paul did. I pray that I will be able to say that I have been faithful and I never shrunk from telling them everything God wanted them to know.

⁷ "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. ⁸ Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ ⁹ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, ¹¹ so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!" (Philippians 3:7-13)