More Blessed

Daily Reading: Acts 20

Scripture Focus: You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.' (Acts 20.34-35)

Devotional Thought: In his final meeting with the pastors and teachers from Ephesus, Paul reminded them about the hard work he had done while there in Ephesus.  Why do you suppose Paul included his work ethic in his final address to the ministers of Ephesus?

Two reasons: preachers and laypeople!

• Preachers need to work hard.  Just as Paul had been an example to them, he now reminded them that they would be an example to their flock.  Being a leader in the church did not confer one with privilege and prestige.  No, it meant shouldering more of the load, sharing the cross of Christ!  Paul never allowed himself to settle down and get comfortable.  He followed the Lord to obscure places where he would have to work with his own hands to supply his needs.  He even earned income to supply the needs of his ministry companions!  Paul believed that hard work should be the common characteristic of all ministers of the gospel. 

• Laypeople need to work hard, too!  Christians should be the hardest working of all people.  In another letter, Paul wrote that if people wouldn’t work then they didn’t need to eat (2 Thessalonians 3).  I sometimes worry about the modern work ethic and the loss of self-responsibility in our culture.  It seems that the more we give to people – without requiring that they give something in return – the worse the need becomes.  Just giving money to people will not lift them out of poverty.  It will only perpetuate it. 

May we all aspire to the attitude of Paul: “These hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.”

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for all I have received from your hand.  Thank you also for the ability and the opportunity for "my hands to minister to my necessities and to those who are with me."  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 73.1-11

1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.

7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.

11 And they say, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"