Have you ever been-or seen someone-so locked into an idea or action that prompted you to say, “Man, he/she is really locked in.” That might be said of a baseball pitcher who is so focused and so dominant: “WOW! He is really in a zone.” I’ve seen cyclists in a race on TV struggling to keep up, but then when he hits the mountains suddenly all else falls away, he gets locked in and it seems as if he is flying up the mountain.

We might be like that-or someone we know-and comment on how “he/she is a man on a mission.” Nothing causes that person to look to the right or the left. In yesterday’s devotion I wrote about our calling. To just piggyback on that a bit, when a person knows his/her calling, he knows his mission.

Follow Paul and Barnabas through Acts 13:42-14:28. That was my reading for today. I was struck by their resolute mission.  Nothing derailed them. Nothing deterred them. You might say, “Wrong Bill! The Jews were against them. They had to leave towns and cities. Paul was stoned and left for dead. That stopped them dead in their tracks.” Oh, really? In the first incident of rejection, they took the gospel to the Gentiles as a result (13:41-49). Stop? Oh no!! Spread the gospel.  Next, after being in Iconium for a long time, they fled. They healed a lame man and were revered as gods in Lystra. They tried to stop that but encouraged the people to turn to God.  When radical protesters came, Paul was then stoned and left for dead…in the town that had revered him!  The passage ends with a report on the gospel being taken to the Gentiles.

How’s that for staying on mission? While the enemy stirred up difficulty, it simply spurred Paul and Barnabas on. They would not be deterred. They would not be sidetracked. They were men on a mission.

Am I/are you gripped by the mission? What mission? The mission of telling the gospel to others-wherever that may be-however that is to be done. Stay focused. Stay in the game. Stay on task.

“Father, You have given me a task, a mission to accomplish. Help me to fulfill it, to not be distracted or turned aside or derailed.”