Ask and You Shall Recieve

I haven't yet had my quiet time today, but I will shortly. What is still begging my attention is something I read yesterday. I found in Luke 10 a story of the 72 messengers that Christ sends out into the world. It is very much parallel to a stroy in Matthew 10 about how Jesus sent out the 12 Apostles. In both cases he gives them basically the same Pep Talk.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." (Luke 10:2-3)

What really sticks out to me here is the analogy of sending US "lambs" out into the "wolves." Like many things Christ says I think that this is some sort of parable. It has a special meaning about the relatinship of dependance on Christ for strength we should have as we go to do his work. This same analogy is elaborated on in Matthew when Jesus sends out the 12.

"I am sending you out like sheep amoung wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16)

As sheep in the field look to their sheperd for protection from the things in the world that would harm them we are supposed to look to Christ, our sheperd, for the protection and guidance we need. It is important that we find a balance between wisdom, which is neccessary for gaurding our hearts and minds in Christ, and vulnerability, which is neccessary in order to truely love someone. We are called to live life in an odd way in which we have offered ourselves as sacrafices to the world and its wolves, surviving only on the trust and faith in Christ that we will be protected. Like the Jews fleeing from Egypt everyday when they woke up they found the mana (food) that they needed in order to sustain life. They onyl had enough for that day and just had to trust that their would be mana the next day.

In addition to this trust that we need to have in Christ while we live here on this earth there is also a commision, a task, an objective for our lives. In this instance it is worded like this.

"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is se before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, "The Kingdom of God is near you."."

I think there are several important messages here; first when we enter a place where we are welcomed Christ calls us to put trust in the people there and use the things they offer in order to sustain the ministry there, second we are told to heal the sick. It doesn't say how the people may be afflicted just that we are supposed to heal them. The question them arrises "How are we to heal sick people?" Well the answer to this lies in that Christ is empowering the people he sends out with His power. As messengers for Christ we have in us His spirit, his power, and his will. Like parable of the Mustard Seed we need only have faith and nothing is impossible for us. The third thing we are called to do in this verse is to preach of the Kingdom of God. It is our job as stewards of the knowledge of Christ to share that knowledge with others. We don't have to be special people with unusual knowledge or skills, we don't need to be trained or instructed in how to be effective, we need only a genuine love for Christ and a relationship with him. I am not saying that there aren't ways to better utilize the gifts God has given us, but what I am saying is that all we need to do in order to participate in Gods purpose for our lives is to offer ourselves to Him for his work.

In conclusion I would like to say that this is not an average quiet time for me. I don't usually get all this from one or 2 verses and even rarer do I have the urge to share all this with people. In fact I am quiet self concious and unsure of what I really understand. In any case I hope anyone that reads this looks into for themselves, you never know how God can speak to you through scripture. I am off to bed now, but I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy finding out more about the Lord yourselves, as the host of Reading Rainbow alwasy said, "Don't take my word for it."

In Him,
matt