As Paul’s life of freedom draws to a close, brethren beg him to avoid Jerusalem (Acts 21:7-12). It is an understandably frightening time and everyone is worried about Paul’s physical safety. Regardless of their fears, Paul was intent on his mission, and in Acts 21:14 we read, “…since [Paul] would not be persuaded, we fell silent remarking, ‘The will of the Lord be done!’” Only after they recognized that Paul’s mind would not be changed, they said, “The will of the Lord be done.”
In our lives today, who’s will are we working to accomplish first? In contrast to those around him, Paul was more intent on the Lord’s will than on his own. Or, maybe Paul was so committed to Christ that the Lord’s will was his own. It is amazing that mature Christians who were devout and religious people would fall back on doing the Lord’s will, only after they exhausted their other options.
God’s will should not only come first in our lives; God’s will needs to be our will. Doing the will of God should never be the consolation prize after the faithful Christian has tried either everything or even anything else; instead, God’s will should be the prize.
Matt Langfield