Acts 20:24 (ESV) – “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

What is our purpose? Why are we here? What are God’s plans for my life? These are always questions that are looming with all of us, particularly for students in high school and senior graduates. This school year we have the blessing of graduating three senior girls from GCA. Two of them have been attending GCA since 2015, with one starting with us from the beginning when we first opened our doors in 2014. While this verse has many implications for all of us at GCA, there is a special anointing from this verse that comes to any soon-to-be Christian graduate that is headed off into the world.

One of our tenants of faith that we stand on here at GCA is “Christ-centeredness.” This foundational principle puts Jesus on the throne and puts us at His feet. The contrary of course is to put ourselves on the throne, which comes natural for us in our flesh. We want to call the shots, take control, and by our own strength take on the world. Well that may be fine in Hollywood moviemaking, but for believers, that pathway is ultimately perishable when it comes to eternal standards. When we wrap ourselves up in the center then we try to apply a precious value to our life’s story on our own strength; concluding that our life only has value by what we can make of it. And even if we build up an empire that “gains the whole world”, it will ultimately lead us into losing our soul to hell for eternity (Matthew 16:24-27). That’s a horrible end. But God has a story too, a much better story with a better ending, and He wants to write His story onto our hearts so that we will live it everyday to a world that needs to hear. Will His story mean that we are successful, rich, and famous? Maybe. But that is not the point. The point is to finish the course that He has set before us so that we will “testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” You see, the story is not about us, it’s about Jesus. And it’s our job to share this gospel, in whatever platform the Lord has laid before us, so that others will know it. It is our hope that all of our students here at GCA, especially by the time they are seniors, understand this Great Commission so as to not account our lives as of any value or precious to ourselves other than using the life we have received for His glory and making disciples. Nothing in this world will be taken with us to eternity except Jesus and the people that know Him as Lord and Savior. So why clamor and claw for all that is perishable? Let’s invest and testify to the imperishable inheritance that is ours through Jesus Christ so that others too may come to know Him.