"Finishing Well" October 17 Readings: Acts 20

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: Acts 20

Background:  

Before we delve into 2 Corinthians and Romans, also written on this third missionary journey of Paul, we will return briefly to Acts 20, in which Paul wraps up that journey.

After spending time in Macedonia and Greece he went to Troas where the tragic and hilarious story of Eutychus falling asleep during his sermon and falling out of a window to his death takes place. The amazing part of the story is that Paul raises the man to life and then goes back to preaching!

He then went to Ephesus where he said goodbye to the people and the elders of Ephesus, a passage that tells us much of Paul's heart and gives hints as to ministry in the early church. 

Daily Devotional: Finishing Well

I have competed in sports all of my life, but there is nothing like the thrill of crossing the finish line of a marathon. I've finished dead last in a marathon (no exaggeration - dead last!) and I did one a few years back in the desert mountains that took me over 11 hours. But crossing the line makes all the pain, all the suffering, all the hard work worth it. There is nothing like it.

I've also given up, quit. One time, 22 miles into a marathon, with only 4 miles to go, I gave up and wimped out - and I've regretted it ever since. I wished I stuck it out and made it to the finish. Quitting made me feel terrible.

Paul was very concerned about finishing the race God had set before him. In Acts 20:24, he foreshadows his declarations in 2 Timothy 4, saying to the elders of Ephesus,

But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

His life was not about himself, but about running the race to the very end and completing the ministry God had laid before him. We remember what he said in 2 Timothy 4, that he actually did finish the race and keep the faith and that he expected a reward, a crown, when his life ended (as it was about to). 

As we read the stories of Israel's kings, we see so many who started well, with great promise and wonderful potential, but they fell into sin and squandered the opportunity God had given them. Paul did not want to be a failure but was determined, even at the point of death, to finish the race. If it meant suffering, or ostracism, or rejection, or hatred, or martyrdom, he would devote himself to living for and testifying to the grace of Christ to the very end. 

Life can be hard but Jesus is worth it.

Father, help me to finish well the race you have set before me. 

Consider God's Word:

Are you feeling like giving up?
Ask God for the strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other, to continue in Christ.
Never give up!