Acts 20:32  And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

    Having spent 38 years teaching, I have become almost hard-wired to the ‘circadian rhythms’ of the school calendar. May hits differently for a teacher! And every May that comes brings a final end to that long cycle of beginnings and endings for those that retire. They may wonder, “have I done enough?” 

    Paul was leaving and knew that he would not pass that way again. He was saying his goodbyes and they were more than a retirement speech. He may have wondered if he had done enough, if he had made an impact. But he had come to know that he was on a different sort of mission. He was working for God. What he did was not an effort to build his own kingdom and it was not to bolster his own legacy. What he was doing was for God and had, therefore, eternal significance! But that awareness might have given him more cause for concern as he was saying goodbye. 

    But Paul did the one thing that he knew he could and should do: he commended them to God and the word of His grace. In other words, he was leaving them in God’s hands. Not in a way that we sometimes do in frustration, but in the truest sense possible. Paul had come to realize that what he was doing was what God wanted. He had joined in the ministry of the Gospel. That work is not bound by the rhythms of an academic calendar. Nor is it marked off in the same way our working years are. It goes on and on. And it’s not just for a few pastors or religious professionals. It’s for all committed followers of Christ. 

    We might earn our livelihood through teaching, in the business sector, the government, the farm, or whatever; but as Christians that is only our secondary role. Our primary role is the work we do for Him. Paul the tentmaker knew that, and he was able to rest in the changing circumstances of his life confident that the seeds he had planted for God would grow. Paul wasn’t retiring. He was moving to a new phase of ministry. What phase of ministry are you in?

Blessings,        

rb