Do Your Best

There are two classes of characters found in the Bible: those with whom we can relate, and those who possess a higher degree of faith and virtue than the average person.  Those in the latter group are still beneficial to us, as we strive every day to emulate their example, but the members of the former group give us hope, for they prove that, even in the face of human weakness, the Christian can still overcome.

If anybody belongs in the class of “ordinary” Bible characters, it is Eutychus.  This young man holds the distinction of being the only person in the Bible who fell asleep during a sermon—a sermon preached by Paul, at that!  In Acts 20 Luke writes that Paul and his traveling companions lingered in Troas until the first day of the week, when they gathered together with the Christians to break bread.  Knowing that he had to depart on the next day, Paul preached a prolonged sermon, speaking until midnight.  This was too much for poor Eutychus.  Maybe he had gotten up early that morning, or perhaps it was a little warm.  Whatever the excuse, he “sank into a deep sleep” and fell to the ground out of his perch in a third story window.  This was one nap he should not have taken, for Luke says he “was taken up dead.”  Now, all of us have nodded off in church, but thankfully none of us has lost his life over it!  Paul immediately went down to see about the young man and said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”  The apostle raised his sleepy friend from the dead and Eutychus walked away alive (vv. 7-12).

Maybe some would criticize Eutychus, saying, “He should have stayed awake!  How could he fall asleep to Paul’s preaching?  If he had been taking notes, this would not have happened!”  However, I think Eutychus is to be commended because he was doing his best.  How many young people would have attended a church meeting that lasted until midnight?  How many would have sat in a window when there was no more room?  Eutychus put forth his best effort—though it wasn’t much—and look at the results.  His weakness gave Paul an opportunity to demonstrate the power of God, and the name “Eutychus” has been immortalized because of it!

The next time you get frustrated because you don’t have the patience of Job, think of Eutychus.  When you feel “dull” because you cannot teach with the wisdom of Paul, think of Eutychus.  The next time you struggle with fear or human weakness, think of Eutychus.  Just do your best.  That is all God asks of you.

Perhaps the greatest compliment Jesus ever paid was to an unnamed woman who anointed His head with expensive perfume.  He said of her, “She has done what she could” (Mk. 14:8).  Are you doing what you can for God?  If you are doing your best, that is all He expects.