Leave it All on the Field

I remember being told this in high school before football games. The idea was that we would play so hard that our reserves of strength would run out precisely when that final whistle was blown. As I have been reading through Acts, it is obvious that these Christians were exhausting themselves for Christ as though there was no tomorrow. As for Stephen and James, their race was run with such reckless abandon that their lives were snuffed out very quickly. The rest of them lived as though it could happen to them at any time. They truly made the best of every opportunity. It is especially evident in Paul. I love the example in chapter 20, where Paul had been in Troas for a week and on Sunday he preached. Because he was leaving the next day, he preached until midnight. If I were him, I would have kept it short and gotten some sleep before the journey, but he preaches all night. Paul and the others left it all on the field, and the world was turned upside down. That is the kind of 1st century attitude that is worth restoring.