Daily EncouragementSample

Paul was at Miletus talking to the Ephesian elders, whom he had summoned. His words of farewell give us a wonderful self-portrait of this spiritual leader. We see how literally he obeyed his own appeal for Christians to offer their bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1) when we note his references to his own body in this chapter.

• The feet which walked: “I set foot in Asia” (verse 18, RSV); “from house to house” (20); “You among whom I have gone about” (25).
• The lips which testified: “I have not hesitated to preach” (20); “I have declared” (21); “testifying” (24); “I have gone about preaching” (25).
• The eyes which wept: “I served the Lord . . . with tears” (19); “warning each of you night and day with tears” (31).
• The hands which laboured: “These hands of mine supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions” (34).
• The knees which bent in prayer: “he knelt down with all of them and prayed” (36).

As then, so now. The people we serve watch the lives we live. The missionary, wherever he goes, is under surveillance “from the first day.” Happy is he if on the last day there is an expression of spiritual kinship, affection and love similar to the one which Paul experienced: “he knelt down with them all and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him” (36-37).