God’s Hope for Your Heart from Acts 28
YOUR LIFE MATTERS BECAUSE OF THE GOSPEL
[Paul] lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. (Acts 28:30-31)
Paul was under house arrest, but it didn’t matter. The Gospel was going out. Paul was imprisoned and restricted, but that wasn’t a problem. The Gospel was unbound and free. For Paul, his personal situation wasn’t so important, because he knew that the Gospel matters most of all.
Luke, the author of the book of Acts, ends the account rather abruptly.
“What happened to Paul in Rome?” He doesn’t say.
“What about Peter and the other apostles?” He doesn’t say.
“What about the other Christians in Rome?” He doesn’t say.
In this last chapter of the book, Luke ends the story of the first Christians in the same way he started it in chapter 1, with the preaching of the Good News of the Kingdom and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The rest of the story may be important, but it is secondary. The lives of the first Christians mattered for sure, but the Gospel matters more.
Maybe you feel your life doesn’t really count for much. Maybe you feel your accomplishments aren’t what you hoped they would be. Yet, if you’re in Christ, here’s good news. Your life matters greatly because you are a participant in God’s cosmic plan of redemption!
No matter what individual success you may have, you can be confident in your worth to God, because you are a valued part of His plan. So, in your own seasons of triumph and trial, struggle and success, may you find hope as you remember this truth: your life matters because of the Gospel.
-Pastor Phillip
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