“O that thou wert as my brother, That sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; Yea, I should not be despised. I would lead thee, And bring thee into my mother's house, Who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine Of the juice of my pomegranate. His left hand should be under my head, And his right hand should embrace me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, Until he please. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: There thy mother brought thee forth: There she brought thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, As a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as the grave: The coals thereof are coals of fire, Which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can the floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, It would utterly be contemned.”
Song of Solomon 8:1-7 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/sng.8.1-7.KJV
The Mission of God
All of our lives are spent on something.
Most people spend their days focused on growing a family, building a career, or amassing possessions. While none of those things are necessarily wrong, they can become distractions from our ultimate goal in life.
In the book of Acts, we see Paul’s transformation in Christ. As a result of meeting Jesus and being changed by His grace, Paul spends the rest of his life preaching the good news of Jesus.
For Paul, God’s grace and salvation were so great that nothing on this earth could compare to doing His work.
Paul said that nothing in his life mattered as much as telling others about God’s grace. His goal in life was to finish his own race well by faithfully accomplishing as much of the mission of God as possible:
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace."
Acts 20:24 NIV
The mission of ...