V 24. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
The privilege of announcing the good news of God’s grace was the motivation that kept Paul going throughout his missionary travels. When you read what Paul endured in the course of his life in order to fulfil his calling you can only be amazed. You can read about in 2 Corinthians 11 – but how about this for a start: Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. (vv 24-25) And there is plenty more to add to that! He saw his reason for living as freedom to announce the news of God’s wonderful Grace. That’s how powerful the message is, and once you grasp it you long to share it with others.
There are lots of things we get involved in as Christians. We may be musicians who help lead worship, or teachers to help with young people, or Baristas who keep the Café going, or cleaners, or … But our greatest privilege is to share good news with the folk around us. We will do it in different ways, but essentially that is why we are here as Church.
Once we cease the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God we will be missing the point of our being.