As Paul says a tearful goodbye to the elders of the church in Ephesus we see two things about his ministry and calling. First, we see that wherever God placed Paul for however long He placed him there Paul was fully present and invested. His life, lived out daily, gave testimony to the message he proclaimed. The second thing we see is that Paul didn’t hesitate to go when God had a new assignment for him, even when that assignment was likely to lead to his suffering and even his death. For most of us it’s easy to become slaves of either the future or slaves to our comfort. We’re either too busy thinking about what God might have for us later that we don’t invest where He has placed us now or we get so comfortable with where we are now that we aren’t obedient to Him when He calls us someplace new. We need to be a people who are fully invested in the mission of God wherever He has placed us now and fully ready to obey the call of God wherever it may take us in the future.
As Paul says a tearful goodbye to the elders of the church in Ephesus we see two things about his ministry and calling. First, we see that wherever God placed Paul for however long He placed him there Paul was fully present and invested. His life, lived out daily, gave testimony to the message he proclaimed. The second thing we see is that Paul didn’t hesitate to go when God had a new assignment for him, even when that assignment was likely to lead to his suffering and even his death. For most of us it’s easy to become slaves of either the future or slaves to our comfort. We’re either too busy thinking about what God might have for us later that we don’t invest where He has placed us now or we get so comfortable with where we are now that we aren’t obedient to Him when He calls us someplace new. We need to be a people who are fully invested in the mission of God wherever He has placed us now and fully ready to obey the call of God wherever it may take us in the future.