Sunday 13 Jan 2013

Sunday Reading: Luke 10:3-11

Key Verse: Luke 10:7
7  And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.

Devotion:
How many times have you thought about giving up what you are doing and going too to do something else just because things got a bit tough? I’m sure we have all been there and in many cases changed our work, friends or even our lives because things got out of hand or changed too much for us to bear. But when Christ gave His disciples the command to go out and preach the gospel He also made sure that they understood that they had to be persistent but also to think about where they were.

Christ likened their journey ahead as lambs walking into the wolves; and we still face that same journey as we take God’s Word with us because we will find that there are people out there who just want to see us gone rather than have to put up with us telling people the truth about God! If people are so intent on living in the darkness and we walk in with a huge light, then they will be angry and afraid and will reject us. But those who do realise that they do need the light will start to listen and it is those that Christ wants us to be persistent with because He knows the one who will come to Him.

If all we get is constant rejection and constant aggravation then we will become cynical and even hardened against the people. That is not what Christ wants because we then become hard to work with from His point of view. If we start offending people and causing offense because we have been persistent in forcing something upon them they are not ready for, we may well be building up a wall in their minds rather than breaking one down for them to see the light – again, not what Christ is after.

But when we do go forward in Christ’s name and we are accepted then we should continue to stay there and build on the truth, build on those initial seeds and encourage those people to seek God with all their hearts. God wants us to be friends with such people so that they will be able to see more of what God can do with us and through us – what better encouragement than for someone to be able to be with a friend of Christ?

Points to Ponder:
Are you being friends with others?

Do they see you as a friend of Christ?