Embrace These Things

Your house is on fire.

Smoke billows through the hallways and assaults your senses. As you and your loved ones run to safety, what do you grab? Can you manage to hold on to anything? Is it safe to cling to any thing so closely? You make a split second decision, and with super-human strength, carry your loved ones out onto the front lawn. You cling to each-other as you watch it all burn down.

The truth is, our lives will face calamity. Things will catch fire. What do we hold on to? What will we embrace? In the life of a disciple, what do we really need.

In the Gospel of Luke , Jesus sends out the twelve and instructs them to:

“Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town.  If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”  Luke 9v3-5

Why does Jesus do this? Why does being one of Jesus’ sent ones seem like the life of a vagabond? Isn’t it important to have a walking stick, a bag with some snacks, a extra shirt and some emergency cash? It’s like Jesus is sending us to the world, wholly unprepared. 

Maybe so, but wait, let’s back up a bit. When Jesus called the twelve together He gave:

“power and authority to drive out all demons  and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9v1-2

The truth is, at certain times in our journey, our lives are going to be on fire. The walls will be crumbling around us. Seasons of change, suffering and poverty will come and pass. People will not always welcome us with open arms and supply us with all that we need. We may not have shoes for the journey or bread for our bag. We may experience spiritual starvation. Dark nights of the soul in the valley. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, only when. These times will come. So, what will we cling to?

Embrace these things:

• Access.
• Authority.
• Power.
• Purpose. 

We may not have a staff, but we have power and authority given to us from and in Jesus’ name. We may not have bread, but we can cast out demons, cure disease and heal the sick because He gave. And now that we freely have received, we can freely give. We are sent to proclaim the Kingdom of God. It frees and sustains all who come into contact with it. The keys have been given to us, and that very access to our Lord Jesus will always be enough. Embrace this whole-heartedly. He gave us everything we need for the journey.

Today’s disciple has everything they need. I believe that. Would you join me on the journey?