Last week we noted that, at first glance, these verses might seem to be pretty barren soil for a meaningful message. How much insight for practical living can there be in hearing about Paul’s travel plans? If you were reading this letter to a friend, and trying to quickly capture the essence of it, this is probably where you would go “yada-yada-yada”, until we get to end of the letter - ‘to the only wise God be glory forevermore. Amen.”

But these verses are filled with insight into a gospel-saturated mind and a mission-oriented life. You see, Paul is not just sharing information, he’s casting a vision. He’s not simply informing them of what he plans to do, he’s telling them what he expects them to do. You see, Paul intentionally lived his life as an example, a living illustration of what a gospelshaped life looked like. Paul routinely told the churches, ”imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor 4:16; 1 Cor 11:1; 2 Thess 3:9, Phil 3:17). Paul was unafraid to call his readers to imitate his life precisely because his life was molded by the magnificent truth of the gospel. His life was just the logical result of what he was convinced to be true concerning the love and
grace of God for sinners in Jesus Christ.