“And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.”
Acts 20:32 (NLT)
Paul is giving his final words to the spiritual overseers in Ephesus. He has shepherded them, loved them, warned them, and now he is leaving. So he does not entrust the church to himself. He does not entrust them to his leadership gifts, his experience, or his control. He entrusts them to God and to the message of His grace.
That grace is not only able to save us. It is able to build us up. God’s grace is not just the doorway into salvation, it is the power that keeps making us complete. It strengthens us, changes us, transforms us, and carries us higher. Paul is saying the same God who saved you is the God who can sustain you.
The inheritance Paul points to includes the promised Holy Spirit, who is God’s guarantee that every promise He has made will be fulfilled. Because of Jesus, God has marked us as His people and placed His Spirit within us. Holy Spirit is God living inside us now, guiding us into truth, producing His fruit, reminding us of Jesus, and giving us a taste of what is coming in eternity.
So we can trust God with what we cannot hold together ourselves. Holy Spirit is evidence, like a wedding ring, that every promise God made will come true. He does not leave us where we are. He builds us up from the inside out. And that is one more reason to praise our Heavenly Father.