One Thing
Opening Prayer
Lord of all, I lay before You my plans and hopes for this day and trust everything to You.
Read ROMANS 15:14-22
[14] I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. [15] I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me [16] to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. [17] Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. [18] I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done- [19] by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. [20] It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. [21] Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” [22] This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
What is Paul's hope and purpose for the Gentiles?A decade of working in different kinds of businesses and organizations has left me very skeptical of mission statements, vision statements, purpose statements, and so on (and please don’t write to tell me the differences between them). But there is something very attractive to me about a person who knows what their life is about, who has a clear sense of their “one thing.” Paul did. He knew exactly which gifts God had given him, and what he had been called to do with his life. He also knew what was not his to do, what should be left to someone else.
Reading this passage I was reminded of a scene in one of my favorite TV shows, The West Wing. In one of the later episodes, Matt Santos, the party’s nominee for president, is concerned they are narrowing their focus too much. He says to his running mate, Leo, “It feels like we’re closing a lot of doors.” Leo responds, “Good strategy always does.”
A clear calling from God gives us confidence to attempt what we’re uniquely able to do, and leave alone the things we’re not.
Apply
Do you know, clearly, what God has called and enabled you to do? How are you faithfully pursuing it?
Closing prayer
Father, please continue to reveal to me how You are working in my life to accomplish Your purposes on the earth.
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