A SEAL before his time ...

“I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity.... If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.”

You’re right!  This quote is not from the Bible.  It is part of the U.S. Navy SEAL creed. And it describes the Apostle Paul to a T!

Consider his history of SEAL-like resolve ... 

“I will never quit.”  In today’s text, Acts 19:8-10 (to read this passage, click here), Paul argued in the Ephesian synagogue about the kingdom of God for three months, but when his audience there became obstinate, he moved to a new venue in the same city, the lecture hall of Tyrannus, where he taught for two years, “so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of The Lord."

“I persevere and thrive on adversity.”  In fact, he had come to Ephesus directly from Corinth, where he had persevered in persuasion and, in the face of opposition, doubled-down in intensity.  When the Jews there became abusive, he devoted his attention entirely to the Corinthian Gentiles among whom there emerged much spiritual life and fruit. And prior to that, when Paul was in Lystra, some agitators came from out of town, won over the crowd, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, leaving him for dead. Astonishingly, “he got up and went back into the city."

“If knocked down, I will get back up, every time.”  He was imprisoned repeatedly ... lashed five times by the Jews ... flogged severely ... beaten with rods ... stoned ... shipwrecked three times ... exposed to death “again and again” ... endangered from bandits, Jews, Gentiles, on land and at sea ... and sometimes without sleep, without food, and without adequate clothing.

“I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission.”  Paul’s mission focus was clear: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13b-14”

“I am never out of the fight.”  For conditioning, Paul lost weight – shed flesh – laying aside any confidence he might otherwise have placed in his lineal heritage, misguided Pharisaical zeal and legalistic righteousness. (They are, after all, of no use to “special forces.”)  His equipment was Christ and only Christ. On his head he put on Christ, his salvation. Over his heart, he put on Christ, his righteousness. Around his waist, he put on Christ, the Truth. On his feet, he wore the good news of Christ – peace with God through him. In one hand, he held Christ, the Word who was with God from the beginning. His other hand clutched firmly to his faith in Christ – a faith not of his own making, but a gift given to him in grace.

So what ever came of this spiritual SEAL’s unrelenting resolve and perseverance?  This highly trained and superbly skilled Jew who was sent out among the Gentiles, did he accomplish his mission?  Was it really worth such sacrifice? 

We find our answer in the mirror. Paul’s message of salvation in Christ has spoken life to generation upon generation, eventually making its way to us.

And so it falls now to us to pass along to those who follow, the message of life in Christ. For it is only in his strength that we can say, "I will never quit.  I persevere and thrive ..."