Christmas Countdown 2019….Day 10
We are just two week’s away from Christmas Eve.
How does that land on your heart?
If you have been making the effort to “dwell” during this Advent, you may be tempted to let panic seep in.
Suddenly I am aware of things I haven’t purchased and exactly what letter I stopped on in our address book.
I don’t know what we will have for dinner after returning from services which we also have not nailed down details on attendance of said services.
We have one tree standing expectantly awaiting being decorated by the contents of three green plastic tubs.
And the ornaments that I have faithfully written need to be painted on every to do list since October remain rather plain and brown and still in the original packaging tucked away somewhere.
Kidding.
I know where they are…they are in the sack with the last half of the cards…sigh…
But I have managed to read some Christmas stories to the kiddos and we iced cookies yesterday, though it was a rather raucous event from which I am still healing.
And so we move on to what really matters, right?
Day 10 of our journey through Luke.
And as I read through three versions to make sure I wasn’t adding anything to the text, all I can say is Jesus was not too concerned about marketing the gospel in a one size fits all way.
He sends seventy-two disciples out, two by two. They are sent to the villages where He will be going soon…that’s at least 36 villages and yes, I had to use a calculator. It doesn’t say they didn’t do several per group so wow…
Their mission is focused – they are not taking vacay clothes and are not googling local restaurants. This is not a social networking event.
They are to make their way straight to the town, undistracted by those traveling that path.
They are to enter a home and if they are received, they are to bless that home and if the home does not welcome them, they leave it.
If the whole town rejects them, they are to “shake the dust off their feet”…in other words, take nothing from that town and move on.
He pronounces some pretty serious judgment on those who reject Him and then He frees the 72 and all of us from getting all dejected when we are rejected because of Him.
My followers, whoever listens to you is listening to me. Anyone who says “No” to you is saying “No” to me. And anyone who says “No” to me is really saying “No” to the one who sent me.
Luke 10:16 The Message
This is both a huge burden and release of responsibility for a disciple.
On one hand we are asked to go wherever we are sent, traveling light in a material-driven world, for the purpose of ministering both the good news of the kingdom of God and healing.
Which means we need to understand and know what that good news is and how to articulate it, not to mention having grasped the power of the Holy Spirit to bring healing and deliverance to those we encounter through the likes of us.
The release comes when we realize that we have nothing to fear.
He equips us and…
we have been set free from the extremely cumbersome weight of worrying about what others think of us.
As ambassadors for Jesus Christ, if we are accepted in our ministry…it’s because He has been accepted.
Glory! Praise Him!
I don’t have to keep performing at a level to maintain success…it is His success and I am simply the conduit for someone to see and know Him.
And if the ministry I do is rejected, it is Him who stands before me and while I may weep that someone is missing out on the greatest gift ever, I don’t take it personally because it was never me I was trying to promote.
What better time to proclaim the Kingdom of God than Christmas?
I pray for opportunities today to extend the conversations about the holidays to the Holy…to highlight the Christ of Christmas in all I say and do <3