A Wide-Open Door

1 Corinthians 16:5-9

New Living Translation (NLT)

Paul’s Final Instructions

⁵ I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia, for I am planning to travel through Macedonia. ⁶ Perhaps I will stay awhile with you, possibly all winter, and then you can send me on my way to my next destination. ⁷ This time I don’t want to make just a short visit and then go right on. I want to come and stay awhile, if the Lord will let me.⁸ In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost. ⁹ There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.

Paul has options...he has plans for going to see the Corinthians, probably travel through Macedonia, maybe stay the winter with them, would like to stay longer than he did last time, and then, go on to the next destination. Paul also has opposition...which seems to be the norm wherever he goes. The thing that stands out most to me in this passage is that Paul has opportunity...A Great Door of Opportunity right where he is in Ephesus. He is staying put, because there is work to be done. Only a few verses earlier, Paul told the Corinthian believers to "be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." This is a great lesson for you and me. Sometimes I start weighing my options and devising my own plans as to what I want to do for the Lord when really there is a wide-open door for service right where I am. Other times, I let perceived opposition stand in the way of ministry opportunities. I miss out when I let either one of these scenarios keep me from God's will. I need to learn to be strong and immovable when faced with opposition and I need to learn to work enthusiastically where I am until the Lord does something different. I don't want to miss any doors of opportunity because I have my head in the clouds thinking of what is next. Paul had the right idea. Let's look around us today for those wide-open doors for ministry. Let's ask God to give us eyes to see and not to miss what he has for us here in Ephesus because we are so anxious to get to Macedonia.

Help us slow down, Lord, and go at your pace!