From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Over time, I have thought about what would happen to those in my care, my children and those I disciple, if I am taken from them. For my children, I have written them letters to communicate those things I want them to know about how much I love and value them and God’s calling on their lives.

Together as a family, we have seen God act in pretty amazing ways through our Back the Blue Idaho and TruthBursts.com devotional ministries. We have faith markers together of God acting to show his love and faithfulness in life. And so did Paul and the Ephesian church leaders.

Here Paul calls them out separately from the congregation to share with them important information that they need to know and keep in mind. These are, in essence, his parting words to them.

First, Paul reminds them of how he modeled Jesus to them in the early days. Like Jesus had severe trials and testing, so did Paul. And like Jesus, Paul served with “humility” and “tears”. Humility in the way he patiently gave them multiple chances to receive the saving grace of Jesus and be saved. “With tears”, because he had anguish of heart over their wickedness and the evil acts they committed. Not just because they impacted him here temporarily. No! Mainly because of the eternal banishment to hell at the final judgment for those who do not receive the free gift of grace offered by Jesus. He cried and poured out his heart before God for them to be saved, even though some of them persecuted him.

Second, he wanted them to remember his relentless persistence in preaching the gospel to those of every race, sex, color, or creed. He did not take his personal security to heart, but laid everything on the line to lead people to Jesus and the repentance of sins and salvation by his name. He was fearless!

And finally, he is being called to Jerusalem for unknown trials while ministering, and he knows somehow, by divine revelation, he will not see them again. So he challenges them. He tells them to consider how hard and relentlessly he completed his mission in Christ Jesus, no matter the obstacles or trials that presented themselves. It is like he is saying to them, “Trust God to give you the same courage and ability to stand in trials he gave to me! Declare the gospel boldly and do not shrink back. Be faithful and determined to lead as I have been faithful and determined in leading you!”

The writer of Hebrews put it very eloquently this way: “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” (‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭36‬-‭39‬)

Lord, thank you for those pillars of the faith like Paul, ordinary men who trusted you completely and as a result stayed faithful in trials. May I continue to trust you to develop my faith in this way. I desire and pursue a battle-hardened faith today. Lead me on, my King!