From time to time in life we will experience the parting of friends and loved ones. Sometimes it’s due to the death of a loved one, and it grieves our heart greatly. Often people who are very close part ways because of a disagreement. In our society, it’s usually because of a job that is taking us to another area geographically.
All the above reasons can be very painful, and emotionally draining. However, if we are leaving because God has a different plan for our lives we would be miserable to stay. Being in the center of God’s will always requires a sacrifice. However, a sacrifice for God yields immeasurable results.
Paul was a compassionate, honorable, by-the-book man. From the time of his conversion until his death, he was consistent in his efforts to spread the gospel and win souls for Christ.
He was always a man of zeal, even before he became a Christian. He was there in Acts 7:58 when Stephen was stoned. He believed, at this time, the Jews were right and the Christians were wrong. He thought the Christians were a threat to the Jewish religion. He was on his way to defend the Jews and persecute the Christians when he met Jesus.
After Paul began his missionary journeys, he was determined to ensure the churches kept the purity of the gospel. He was grounded in his faith and the gospel. He was willing to do anything to see that the churches he established stayed true to the gospel. In Galatians 1:8, he warned them not to believe or entertain anyone who taught any other gospel.
Galatians 1:8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
Now, in Acts 20, we see him speaking to the Ephesian elders. He gives them his last words to be spoken in their presence. He reminds them he has shown and told them how to live out the gospel. He feels it is necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, even though the Jews may be lying in wait for him. He kneels and prays with them and declares, “That they should see his face no more.”
He was in “sorrowing,” or tears, because he loved them. They then accompanied him to the ship. Paul’s journey would move him to another place in his ministry, but it did not lessen the pain he felt as he left. He would see them no more as he continued his journey to serve the Savior and reach the lost.
We have moved many times in our lives, and each time, we left behind many that we loved like family. However painful it may have been to leave, there was great excitement. Because of our confidence in his guidance, we felt a sense of enthusiasm and eagerness for the future. Looking forward instead of backward gives an elated joy that God has moved you for a purpose that will yield glory to him.
I feel certain that Paul had these feelings as he went from city to city to establish churches. His entire Christian life was an example of how we, too, should live, with the single purpose of sharing Christ to win others for His glory alone.
Act 20:35-38 “I have shown you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.”
