Are you sent?
There is something inside of people that gets them to wake up at a set time, get ready for a set time and arrive to their place of work at a set time to work from a set time to a set time.
For some the thinking behind it – money is needed to survive; the job is the means of earning money; the employer dictates set times of starting and ending work; to earn money is to comply with the dictates of the employer.
That can kinda be a bleak way of looking at it. People do the job to the best of their ability and some are in the privileged position of being in a job they love. Other people might not be as blessed as to be in that position but find great solace in working somewhere with people they like being with and that makes the job more than tolerable.
In all of that, however, there isn’t an overwhelming sense of being there for loving and compelling purpose.
Contrast that with a picture painted for us from sometime in the distant past. A group of people had an experience of God in such a powerful way that they were able to share the praises of God to Him in languages they had never previously learnt or knew. That sparked an opportunity for others to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and for a large number of others to accept it, repent, be baptised and also embrace the experience of God through His promise. Some time later this community of believers resolved an inner conflict by acknowledging the need for Spirit-filled men of wisdom to serve the needs of the people. One of those men capably withstood the opposition of others to the point that jealousy drove some to falsely accuse him and he used that opportunity to highlight what God has been looking for and how consistently certain people actively reject it. This boldness got that man killed. His death sparked a series of persecution among the community of those who followed Jesus.
One of the men who had been appointed to serve the needs of the people was sent to spread the Good News in different areas that had previously not heard the message. Even to the point that he was directed to meet a traveller returning home and perplexed by something he was reading. The man and the traveller conversed and the traveller’s life was forever changed by the encounter.
In this picture there is no sense of people doing things out of a sense of obligation. These people were sent. They were on a mission. They were propelled by the Spirit to be about the business of sharing the Good News.
They were sent.
Are you sent?
(Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 