Have We Missed the Call?
Picture by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
Today I found myself in Luke 10. I’m not really sure how I got there, but none the less that is where I found myself. It is here in Luke 10 I found a verse that I’ve heard a million times, but this time it was different…this time I paid attention…this time I saw.
You see for far too long I have perched my spiritual rear end on a tidy little verse in Luke 10. A verse that is deep and inspiring. A verse that calls, cast vision, and gives a command. It’s a verse that has been a hiding place for me for many years, a place where I can feel good, as well as safe.
Luke 10:2 “And He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Like many of you it’s a verse we hear constantly in the church, and something we faithfully pray for. Laborers…other people to rise up and go into the fields while we sit in our tidy little homes in our tidy little community busy keeping things tidy. I missed it…completely MISSED IT!!!! I don’t know how…well sure I do. I like things the way I like things and it’s difficult to do anything that would change the way the things I like are done.
So, some of you may be wondering what in the WORLD I am talking about. Well. STOP and GO READ LUKE 10:1-12.
Okay, hoping that you really did go read it. If not GO READ IT!!!
Okay, I’ll stop being bossy, but seriously it is good stuff. The point is, for me, somehow I’ve only ever focused on verse 2. I’ve somehow come to believe that only praying for laborers, others that would go, is good enough. What I failed to understand is that this passage is a commissioning of a group to go before Jesus into cities that He would visit, to proclaim the gospel. In this commissioning He is instructing them to pray for CO-LABORERS. Okay, let’s just stop for a second. This is what I missed and I think many others might have missed as well. I have prayed for years for laborers to go into the “fields” believing with my whole self that the harvest is ready, but what I have failed to acknowledge is that I am to be praying for co-laborers, meaning that my rear end should be out there and not abiding in my tidy little space of a place.
Wake up…there are unreached people groups here in the boundaries of our city and abroad, there are broken and hurting, widowed and orphaned, lost and dying EVERYWHERE, but yet I/we just wander in the wilderness of our tidy spaces in our tidy community praying for someone else to rise up and go. I feel like I’ve been duped, distracted, bewildered, and utterly self-serving, all while a harvest awaits the good news of the gospel. You know …that Good News story we’ve heard over and over, know backward and forward. Yep, that’s the one about His Life, Love, Death, and Resurrection to Forgive, Heal, Restore, and Redeem all things. The one that for far too long has sat looking so nice and tidy on my nice and tidy little shelf, where I can put all things that I like to reference when it serves or suits me best.Y'all I'm tired of tidy and ready for REVIVAL.
PAUSE for just a moment. I know that I might be perceived as a little harsh or just ever so slightly exuberant …I’m okay with that. You see the reason is that I finally got my eyes checked and my vision was so totally impaired. I have been blinded by everyday distractions and pursuits and I’ve been struck so squarely between my two eyes. You see I was blind to a world just outside my door that is in need. Those who are lonely and longing, those who are desperate and hurting, those who may not look like I do or believe like I do or have anything in common with me, but you need to see, that you have what they need. JESUS.
Those 72 had the responsibility and great privilege of going before the Savior of the world to proclaim his coming, vs. 9 “The kingdom of God has come near to you”, and so the same falls to you and I. The Kingdom of God is near and we are to go and proclaim this before His second coming. However, let us take GREAT note of how He sent these 72, vs 3-4 “I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.” He is not sending them out as lions ready to pounce on whatever lies before them, but He sends them as lambs with NOTHING. Often times I feel the need to be prepared to defend myself and what I believe, and instead of going in humility and meekness, as that of a Lamb, I go with a defensive spirit and argumentative nature, with my Biblical arsenal of theological terminology and all manner of spiritual prowess . UGH!!! It makes me ill to think about how I have offended not only others but grieved the Holy Spirit with my arrogance and spiritual haughtiness. Let every word that proceeds out of my mouth be that of a Lamb, with blessings of Peace, that will lay the ground that the Holy Spirit will allow the gospel to traverse.
Let us pray and ask the Lord to give us vision to see beyond our tidy space of a place, that He would break us of every preconceived notion of the where, what, and how to do this going thing? That we would be hindered in no way to enter into every place that is in need of the proclamation of His Peace, Life, Love, and Forgiveness, and that EVERY word that proceeds out of our mouth would be tempered with grace, humility, and love. Let us be co-laborers together preparing the ground with peace and love that the Holy Spirit will use to bring the GOSPEL to the world. LET US GO!!!