Tears with the Territory

Acts 20 

There have been a couple of times I’ve had to say tearful good-byes to dear friends. When my wife and I left Calvary Baptist Church in Rockford for seminary, while we rejoiced in the new direction the Lord set before us, we wept with those who had become so precious to us. It’s one of the hardest things in life to do.

This account of Paul’s final good-bye to the elders in Ephesus stirs up all those emotions afresh. Imagine the scene, as these beloved brothers in Christ with whom Paul had lived and ministered for three years gathered on the shore. They had formed a bond in the Lord, solidified through trials and tears. They had engaged together in the work of the gospel, proclaiming Jesus as Lord and establishing the local church.

Paul’s farewell address leaves their hearts in agony, and with much weeping, sorrow and embracing, they wave good-bye for the last time. They know they’ll never see his face again.

For Paul, it’s been his new way of life. The Holy Spirit has compelled him to go to Jerusalem, where the only thing he’s sure of is that imprisonment and affliction await. But, O, for the resolve of Paul’s heart! The only thing that mattered to him was to finish the course. His own life he counted as nothing. His sole desire was to keep testifying to the gospel of the grace of God, by which he had been saved, and in which he stood. Sometimes tears come with the territory.