“I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
– Acts 20:24
What a statement just summarizing Paul’s passion for the way he views his life. If my life isn’t of any value, it’s not precious to me, I got one thing I’m focused on, and that’s the ministry I’ve received from the Lord Jesus, testifying to the gospel of his grace.
I think about each of these chapters in Acts and as we pray through them I find myself constantly driven, praying for the spread of the gospel through our lives. It feels like every chapter and prayer that flows from every verse and every chapter has go to help me to faithfully share the gospel. That’s exactly what Paul is expressing here. Think about it. He knows he’s on this earth for the spread of the gospel. He desires, and he says later, “I want to depart and be with Christ, but it’s better that I’m here. In God’s wisdom. He’s left me here for the spread of the gospel. This is what I want to do. I want to testify of his grace.”
Acts 20:24 Reminds Us of the Bible’s Teaching
Let’s look at our lives in a similar way. I’m not saying this is the only thing we do in the world. This is obviously not what the Bible is teaching, but the Bible is teaching that this is primary. We are here on this earth for the spread of the gospel of the grace of God. We are here to help other people know how good, and great, and gracious, and glorious God is. This is the opportunity God has given us every day and the place where he has put us in the world to make this good news to others. A billion years from now what’s going to matter most is whether or not we have made this good news to others.
Acts 20:24 Leads Us to Have a Right Perspective
God, we pray. Please give us a right perspective on our lives here. Help us not to miss this glorious purpose you’ve entrusted to us. We want to be a part of testifying to the gospel of your grace, telling other people about your love in Christ. Lord, we don’t want to get to the end of our lives and look back and not have done this, not have given our lives to this, not spent our lives doing this.
In all the places we find ourselves, and I think about my life, my schedule this week. I think about each person who’s praying this and their lives, their schedule, the different workplaces where they are, the different places where they live, the different people around them who don’t know Christ. Lord, help us all. Help us all, we pray, to be faithful to testify to the gospel of your grace. And, Lord, help us not to neglect this most important ministry.
This Reminds Us of Our Duty to Proclaim the Gospel
Obviously, we know we’re not Paul in the same way that he was an apostle in the New Testament. But we do know that we have been sent out by Christ with a message, a gospel to proclaim. Help us, we pray, to do it faithfully. May we say in our own hearts my life I don’t count of any value. Precious to myself. If only I may finish this race and complete this ministry that we have been given from you, this opportunity that you have given to us, to testify to the gospel of your grace. God, help us to be faithful to run that race today and to do this work today. For the glory of your name and for the spread of your gospel, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
