The Immovable Man

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"none of these things move me" (Acts 20:24).

Paul's dearest and most trusted friends, in every city he passed through, warned him of what would happen if he went forward with his plans to visit Jerusalem. "The Holy Spirit testifies that chains and tribulations await you there!"

These undeniable warnings, spoken in love, did not alarm Paul in the least, nor did they deter him from the great purpose to which he had devoted his life. Rather, they prepared him to move forward with his eyes wide open, and his resolve immovable.

A lesser man or woman may have opted for retirement in a sunny, coastal village; basking in the serenity of an unthreatened life; enjoying blissful mediocrity, indifferent to the great perils that others were now suffering because of his or her shirking of responsibility.

But Paul was made of thicker stuff. "None of these things move me," he said, "neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" (Act 20:24).

There was a divine summons upon Paul's life, and it rendered him immovable in his course -- despite any and all opposition.

In fact, the more opposed he was -- the more determined he became. "We do not lose heart," he wrote. " Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Co 4:16-18).

A higher vision lifted his spirit far above the clamor of the carnal war which was unleashed against him. And in his composure, he exhorts us to follow his unwavering example -- "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1Co 15:58).

In a day when the Flim-Flam Man is touted as a hero -- God give us men and women who are immovable!
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