“Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus
Christ.” Acts 28:31.
As the book of the Acts of the Apostles comes to an end,
Paul is seen doing what he longed to do: to preach and teach boldly about Jesus
Christ and the His kingdom. From the
start Paul sought to make each day count and knew that how he lived his life in
the present had its effect on the trajectory of the remainder of his life. He sought to serve God throughout his life,
but it wasn’t until he was an adult that he discovered that his desire to prove
his worthiness to God was futile. After
Paul discovered that he was to live by a freely-given and unmerited grace, he
was free to surrender his life in order to bring Jesus to the Gentile world.
As I end the writings from Acts, I am struck by the sacrificial
lifestyle of Paul. The example of him
boldly proclaiming the good news concerning Jesus for the remainder of his life
is very compelling to me. I am challenged
to consider how I am to live each day of the rest of my life. Do I live my life as if this is my last
day? Do I live by Paul’s phrase, “To
live is Christ, to die is gain”? (Phil.
1:21) It is my desire to live boldly for
Jesus and to deal with the hindrances that attempt to get in the way. It is my desire to say that I will walk in
this direction, whether or not anyone comes along with me on the journey.
Questions to consider: What would it look like for you to
live “boldly and without hindrance” for Jesus Christ? Would you do anything differently than what
you are doing now? If there are
hindrances, is there a way for you to deal with them? What will it cost you to live this way?
Prayer: Father, it is my desire to live boldly for
You. Please strengthen me to face and
deal with any hindrance that would get in the way of me serving You. Amen.
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