READING: 1 Samuel 30-31; 1 Chronicles 10; Acts 20
God’s call is a call to coming and going until He beckons us to our eternal home. The apostle Peter reminds us that this world is not our destination, and we’re not to get attached to our stuff. We are exiles living here for a while, but our destination is elsewhere (1 Pet 2:11).
In the meantime, we come and go. College starts. People marry. Jobs change. Ministry relocations happen. Couples retire. People die. And, with each coming and going is the anguish of departure. When you love the people with whom you live and work (as brothers and sisters in Christ are supposed to do), it hurts when you depart—even when you know it’s clearly in the will of God.
The apostle Paul and the Ephesians shared that kind of grief when Paul left that city. Indeed, I’m hard pressed to describe this scene more poignantly than the Scriptures do: “He knelt down and prayed with all of them. There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again” (Acts 20:36-38). Good-byes are painful even when you know eternal reunion someday awaits.
So, we commit each other to God and press forward in the meantime for His glory.
PRAYER: “Lord, words can’t adequately express our gratitude for other members of our Christian family. Thank You for them.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Samuel 1-2; 1 Chronicles 11; Psalm 96, 106; Acts 21
