This morning I have been reading through Paul's letter to the Romans, basically from Chapter 8 -15. It is so good to just bathe in Word, to let it wash over my heart and mind. There are so many points where I could reflect for days, weeks and even years, in this single letter. Recently I have been rereading my journal entries from 2 years ago, and I so encouraged by the depth of insight the Lord has put into me. I have been praying and spending time with the Lord, as I am this morning, for 37 years and I have never even come close to feeling like I have read and understood everything about a single area. I am constantly refreshed and renewed, deepened and restored.
I wish I could say that everything that I have written and learned is now active in my life, captured in my heart and the foundation of my mind and thought, but that is simply not the case. Rather, I find that the Lord is patient and loving and forgiving of all my faults and errors, and inability to fully grasp and grow in His word. He just constantly takes me by the hand and revisits His truths over and over again, gently guiding and leading me as He has done every day of my life. I am so grateful for His endless mercy!
After reading through so much of Paul's letter I was drawn to a few verses in the fifteenth chapter where He was discussing his call to ministry, reflecting back, as it were, on what he has done. Here are the verses - Romans 15:17-19 NIV:
[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 wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ."
I love Paul's straight forward assessment of His ministry, and His clear understanding of the fact that it was the Lord who was responsible for His works. He speaks of Christ accomplishing things through him. He understood that His service was to be an avenue for God's glory to be made known! He spoke, He preached but it was God's power, through the power of the Holy Spirit, displayed in signs and wonders that bore witness to the Gospel of Christ that he preached. He reflected and saw that His message "Christ's Gospel", through God's power alone, had gone out to the peoples from Jerusalem to Illyricum.
One a side note, when I read a name of place, I often like to look it up on-line so that I full grasp what area Paul was speaking about. "Illyricum was a Roman province that existed from 27 BC to sometime during the reign of Vespasian (69-79 AD). The province comprised Illyria/Dalmatia and Pannonia. Illyria included the area along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland mountains. With the creation of this province it came to be called Dalmatia. It was in the south. Pannonia was in the north. Illyria/Dalmatia stretched from the River Drin (in modern northern Albania) to Istria (Croatia) and the River Sava in the north. The area roughly corresponded to modern northern Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and coastal Croatia. Pannonia was the plain which lie to its north, from the mountains of Illyria/Dalmatia to the westward bend of the River Danube. It was in the modern Vojvodina (in northern Serbia), northern Croatia and western Hungary. As the province developed Salona (near modern Split, Croatia) became as its capital." ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illyricum_(Roman_province)).
So, Paul, through God's power working through Him, had been able to preach the Gospel to everything between Jerusalem and the Eastern coast of the Adriatic sea. That is quite the impressive range of ministry, and yet it certainly doesn't seem like Paul was taking any credit, other than that of a faithful servant. He understood his call and the source of his strength and his success.
I also love the fact that Paul was in no way content to rest on his accomplishments. Instead we find him expressing his desire to visit the church of Rome (Rom 15:23-33), and in reading Acts, we see that he was able to finally visit the church in Rome, arriving in chains, but still able to minister effectively (See Acts 28:11-31). I am encouraged by Paul's example and his firm resolve to fulfill the purpose for which Christ Jesus apprehended him. He describes his perspective well in his letter to the Philippians 3:12-14 NIV:
[12] "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. [13] Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Lord, that I would have a similar drive and determination in my walk with You! My desire is that I would faithfully serve You every day, and be able to constantly press forward to complete all that the You have purposed me to do, not resting on my past, but pressing forward! I certainly am no Paul, but that does not disqualify me from being a part of Your overall plan, and for that I am grateful!
Amen and amen!
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