“26 An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.) 27 So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem 28 and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud.

29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.”

30 When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what youre reading?”

31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb is silent before its shearer,

so He does not open His mouth.

33 In His humiliation justice was denied Him.

Who will describe His generation?

For His life is taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch replied to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or another person?” 35 So Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning from that Scripture.

36 As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized?” [37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38 Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing. 40 Philip appeared in Azotus, and he was traveling and evangelizing all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”

Acts 8:26-40

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Philip’s position as the first missionary is very obvious, and we get to see him break a lot of ground, and through the Spirit’s guidance, he covers a lot, too. But there’s one thing that consistently defines the life and ministry of Philip, from what little we get to see, and it is willingness. Sometimes in Scripture, we see God’s chosen messangers arguing with Him about having to speak to a certain group, or veen like Jonah, they try running away from those they are supposed to reach out to because they have a personal problem with them. Btu Philip seems to ve defined by his willingness to GoLove people in the Name of Christ no matter who they are or what may be going on. 

Philip must have been wired to be a natural conversationalist. He was seems like one of those people who would sit down and talk to anyone about anything, a genuine ‘people person.’ Or, as God tends to work sometimes, this may have been the total opposite of what Philip would have seen himself doing. We don’t have those details, so all we can do is speculate in either direction. But they key remains the same.

Willingness and humility are key in the life and ministry of the church. If we are going to reach out to people for the sake of Christ, serving them teaching them and equipping them to go and do likewise, then we must simply be willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and do whatever it is that He requires of us with a happy and open heart.

It may well be that we are made to be uncomfortable in the process, but our comfort is not a concern when we are talking about the need for another person to hear the Gospel message. We have all been gifted to serve God by God with specific gifts of God’s own choosing. And if we are not using them to do just this, then we are nowhere near willing and actually stand in defiance of Him, ignoring the core of the message. God so loved the world that He put His Son in our place to bear the penalty of our sin. That willingness ot love is our example and our strength when it comes to doing the same for someone else. As Christians, we have been given the heart of Christ in this matter. Willingness then comes as a part of the heart of a servant, as we all are. We have been purchased by His blood, and so we live according to that love that bought us, and that love says to ‘Go.’ 

The heart that truly understands what it has been forgiven will not hesitate in it’s willingness to GoLove. Out of love and thanksgiving, we will gladly share with others what has been so richly poured out into our hearts and lives. It is our joy to make the most of every opportunity God provides.