Sent

Okay, today I am going to move away from the daily readings and talk about something different, maybe using using a daily reading or two. Today I am going to talk about being sent. Each of us wants to see God do something in our life, as well as the lives of those around us. We pray and seek His face and try to figure out what exactly it takes for God to move, all the while believing that it will happen. We read the stories in the Bible and have no problem believing that God moved to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and called Moses to do it with the burning bush. We don't try to figure out how the bush was burning but was not consumed; we just believe. The Red Sea parting? The Jordan parting? The sun stopping in the sky? Fire being called down from Heaven? Angels visiting folks left and right? "Sure," we say, "those were Biblical times, that kind of stuff was bound to happen." But today? Come on, just because we go to a charismatic, evangelical church where we say that kind of thing could potentially happen doesn't mean it actually will. I want to be the Christian that lays hands on the sick and when they are healed not stare at them shocked. How about you, Christian? How does your heart move inside you when Christ says in John 14 that "anyone who has faith in me will do even greater things than these"? Does it beat in excited expectation? Remain unchanged and skeptical? Or perhaps palpitate in fear? How can we give the people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins because of His tender mercies if we try to do all this with our own words and actions, refusing the Holy Spirit His rightful place as the guiding light to our feet?
Each of us has greatness in us. Before you belittle yourself, listen closely. If I hold out an apple seed to you and ask you what is this, you respond by looking at me rather strangely and say slowly, as if my grasp on reality is slipping, "Nick, that is a seed." You would be correct, but not complete. Looking at it with our natural eyes that is what we see. Look at the same seed through eyes that don't just see the here and now but the potential future. "Oh!" you exclaim, "a tree!" Yes, but still not complete. You look at me growing a little exasperated by my beating around the bush. "Well, what is it then?" I look at this seed and I see a tree that will have apples that will have seeds that will grow into trees that will grow apples that will have seeds that will grow into trees that will grow apples that will have seeds that will grow trees that..." An entire forest, in the palm of my hand. Destiny. This seed, when properly planted and nourished will grow into that srong apple tree which will bear much fruit. If the enemy of the seed, however, can convince it that it will never be a tree, that its destiny is actually a rock, then the seed will never allow itself to be planted. It will stay on the surface and get eaten by a bird, dried out by the sun, or trampled and broken.
Okaaaay then, that's nice, but tie it together please. Great! I was hoping that was what you wanted. If we become convinced that our destiny is not what God says it is, we will not walk in it and grow in it and become the man or woman we are supposed to be. We will settle for less than the fulfilling life that has been spoken to us by the Lover of Our Souls. For each of us that has faith, Jesus declared that we would do what He had been doing, and then greater things. That is rather scary for me, but stepping out in faith usually is, or we wouldn't be walking by faith, we would be walking by sight.
So how do we do this? How do we follow Jesus' example and do the will of the Father instead of our own? What happens in that moment where we give our all to our All in all? I believe that in that instant we allow ourselves to be sent. If we start in John 14 where Jesus said we will do greater things and keep reading through His teaching in the next three chapters, we arrive in chapter 17. Jesus prays for Himself and then His disciples in verse 18 saying, "As you (the Father) sent me (Jesus) into the world, I have sent them (the disciples) into the world." When we accept that calling, the sending of ones holy and dear to Christ is when we unleash the power of heaven in our lives. When we want nothing more than to see the Word spread to all people everywhere is when you begin to believe for something bigger than yourself, allowing you to move in a faith that comes only from the hand of the Almighty God Himself. We can read the scriptures and marvel at how many times Jesus said that He was sent by the Father, modeling how we should live in that regard. Constantly sent into dark places, bringing the light of truth to show the people walking down the path of sin and death and darkness the path of truth and light and peace.
Today I make the decision, once again, to allow myself to be sent, to align my reality with the reality that God has declared is. Believer, this day, will you allow yourself to be sent? Will you allow the Sovereign Lord of the Universe to place that holy calling upon your life? Will you stop chasing the things that you know have you bound up and call upon the name of the Lord with another, joining your faith with theirs and confessing your sins to have freedom? Will you form the habit of stepping out every time the Lord calls upon you to leave the comfort and security of common sense and believe Him at His word? May it be done unto you according to your faith. Amen.