ACTS 20:17-27

From Miletus Paul had the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus summoned. When they came to him, he addressed them, "You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God's grace. "But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God."

JOHN 17:1-11A

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you."

What is it that makes a person willing to say “yes” to God’s calling when it is a certainty that it will not always be easy and fun, when being safe in God does not mean being safe from persecution and hardships? Paul answered that by saying: “I put no value on my life. I only value finishing the service that the Lord Jesus has assigned to me.” Jesus also answered it in today’s Gospel passage when he said, “l have given You glory, Father, by accomplishing the work You gave me to do.” What matters more, our lives, comfort, security, our selfish will, or finishing the work that God has given us to do?

We all have our assignments. Perhaps we are presently in the middle of a very important one. Do we recognize the worth of what we are doing? How it glorifies God? How it makes a difference for His kingdom? How it increases our holiness, compassion and ability to help others? Let’s stop focusing on the hardships and focus instead on the goal and on the Lord for whom we are doing this. Only in God are we truly safe. He heals our wounds, kisses our nail marks and raises us above the trials into His lap, where we are always loved.

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Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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