Something’s Come Up

Something’s Come Up

But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
1 Corinthians 16:8-9

Paul’s closing comments to the Corinthians revolve around stewardship: Faithfulness with money, faithfulness with opportunity, and faithfulness with people.

We talked about the issue of financial stewardship; we turn now to making the most of the opportunities the Lord sets before us.

Many Christians struggle with discerning the will of God, trying to know just exactly what we should be doing in our day-to-day lives.  Should I take this job, should we move over there, should I get involved with this ministry, etc. Believers face a multitude of choices and want our decisions in these matters to be in line with God’s leading.

Paul is in Ephesus. He has planned (twice now) to go visit the Corinthians, but the Lord is doing something wonderful there in Ephesus, and he feels his previous plans must be set aside in light of the current opportunity for effective ministry he’s experiencing in Ephesus. Some at Corinth label him a flake for changing his plans on them, but he’d rather evangelize the lost in Ephesus than to pamper the saved in Corinth, so he tells them, “Something’s come up.”

Clearly then, opportunity to do good, to serve God, to help others, is a major determining factor in following God’s lead, at least in the life of the Apostle Paul. Since God leads by opening doors for service, we must be mindful of such opportunities the Lord is giving us today, take advantage of them, stop complaining about the obstacles, and leave the results with Him. Then we may find ourselves more closely aligned with the will of God.

Find more encouragement in our devotions section.