Hello Ladies! How are all of you doing today?
Today passage is Paul's goodbye to the Ephesian Church because he knows that he won't see them again. Paul is going to Jerusalem and doesn't know what will happen there to him.
In this passage, you read how much love and concern Paul has for the Ephesian church. He lists off everything in how to live for the Lord. I guess you can have a field day, trying to analyze what Paul is saying to them, but there is something that struck me hard while reading this passage.
Paul's warning to guard our hearts against "the wolves" of this world. When I think of Paul, I think of the analogy he always gives about perseverance and running through the race with all that you have. 28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Paul warns them the dangers out there that will try to kill their faith and he knows that there is strength in numbers, so warns them to band together in that it will help them to struggle together because it will encourage each other to keep fighting and running the race together.
That is one of the reasons the church is there for you. To be there for you through the good times and bad. This is something I struggle with greatly. I don't have a problem with sharing and rejoicing with all of you when good things happen but I hold back in sharing the bad. I tend to see it as if I'm burdening you in some way. But I was told how wrong I am in thinking this way and I know that I was wrong. It's hard to open yourself up like that because it leave you feeling so exposed and vulnerable. But if you don't, I guess that will leave you all alone, closed off to everyone.
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2 comments:
thanks michelle for a wonderful reflection! this passage is, to me, one of the most moving in Scripture. how paul loved the people in this church, as a parent loves a child! he could foresee the great evils that they would face, but knew that he could not help them as he would never see them again on this earth, so he "commits them into God's hands". these verses remind me again that when we really care about someone who is going the wrong way or is facing many hardships and trials, that the first, best, and last thing we can do for them is to pray, "committing them into God's hands". they are safer there than anywhere else.
Hey Michelle, it's interesting to hear of how today's passage has penetrated your heart and ministered to your personal struggles. Needless to say, thanks for opening yourself and sharing :)
I personally was struck by Paul's courage. Though he was warned by the Holy Spirit that he would face prison and hardships, Paul continued on in spreading the Gospel. It reminds me of how Atticus describes courage in the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. He says "...It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through
no matter what."
I pray that each of us will be able to act with courage in living out what we learn from the Bible each week, each day.
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