“And now I entrust you to God and the word of his grace—his message that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.” - Acts 20:32
Standing in a busy airport, I watched people meet-ing and greeting, sighing and crying! Saying good-bye is no fun at all.
Paul was saying good-bye to his friends, the leaders of the church in Ephesus. He was on his way to Jerusalem, not knowing what was ahead, but conscious of the fact that he would never see these Ephesian believers again (Acts 20:25). How would they fare? Would they make it without him? This must have made it very difficult for Paul to trust them into God’s care and get on that boat! However, he was able to say, “And now I entrust you to God and the word of his grace.”
How do you trust God when it’s time to say good-bye? How do you sail away to a college campus after leaving home as a vulnerable child? How do you move on to another ministry and pass the baton to other leaders who you feel are not quite ready? The secret is to realize that you are trusting God and his grace, not any earthly man or woman, to keep and watch over these precious people! They are safe in his care. When you know that it is time to say good-bye, put your work, your child, your spiritual followers, your parents into God’s safekeeping. Pray that his grace will be their keeper and sustainer while you are away. Then trust God to do the rest.
For Further Study: Acts 20:13-38
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
SPECIAL OFFER
