Seldom do I ever live in this rest. Paul was bidding his friends farewell and confidently places the future of Ephesus into the hands of God who is able... and specifically commits them to the word of God's grace.
All too often, I wrestle control over to my self and operate under the assumption that God needs me... I better crank out a bomb message for the students that is biblically faithful and totally relevant. That is what is going to help these kids come to know and love Christ. In my defense, there is a lil' truth to that (We will get to that in a minute). I am constantly working as if the faith of students rests on my shoulders... or even my own faith. I had better get into the word. I had better read the right books. I had better... and on and on it goes. The sad thing is most weeks you could remove God from the equation and my life would look the exact same. It is cold, calculated, and self reliant.
Not so with Paul. He is confident to place his friends into the care of the one who can actually keep them, the one who is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Tim 2:13).
"And to the word of his grace." That is where I am partially right most weeks. I do put a lot of hope into God's Word, and its transforming work. But, when I think that the way I present it makes it either effective or ineffective, I essentially am saying, 'the way I preach is more important than God's word." This is simply not true...God's word of grace is able to accomplish all of His purposes. His word "can build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified" (vs. 32b). It is by God's word of grace that students are transformed... yet, I need to learn to trust the word more and rely less on my ability to preach it.
God is able to do his work in us, by his word, for his glory. Do you believe that? Do you trust that?
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