RE Verse reading–Matthew 9:35-10:31 (day five) “If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your word, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town” (vs 14) Such practical advice! Such powerful help! The disciples learned early to “shake the dust off” from experiences of failure or rejection. They were to discard every reminder of the experience. “Forget it!” said the Lord. Don’t brood over it. Don’t rehearse the hurt or wonder what you could have done differently. It is a waste of energy. Paul learned the same lesson. “FORGETTING what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13) How would your life be better if you stopped thinking about the failures and hurts of the past? Jesus calls us to a fresh start, to accept His forgiveness, to leave vengeance (and even the need to be understood) behind. Shake the dust off! Get forward into the new adventure that God has for you!
Great insight in general…although really hard to do at times.
Also, I am not sure applying this passage (about ministry) to personal relationships is “all of the story”… certainly there is Truth here…but Matthew 5 tells us that if our brother/sister has anything against us, we are to go to them and make it right. The Lord recently set me up and pushed me to confess something I have been dealing with to my last Pastor. His advice was, “You need to just get over this.” While obviously true, things can be really complicated…I think maybe that is one of the reasons why God wants us to be careful to preserve unity. Relationships can be really complicated and God sees/hears both sides…loves both sides and wants us to live in Peace.
My daughter this week dressed inappropriately in an effort to comply with “backwards day”at church and then forgot her coat which I asked her to bring. Long story, but her older sister ended up sacrificing her reward for dressing “backwards” because she gave her coat to her sister who was cold. I was so very, very proud of her. I can only imagine how much more God wants us to love/prefer our siblings in Christ over ourselves and sacrifice ourselves for them.
For me, the key (as always) is HIM. The Lord has been speaking to my heart all week about my insufficiency and His sufficiency. I will spare all the sermon I could easily preach but instead just encourage each of us to press into what He is revealing in this. We are insufficient (even when we think we are not)…but we can rejoice in this because He is sufficient. As we walk humbly with Him in this regard, we can become aware/experience His sufficiency. Jesus said, “I can do nothing on My own initiative.”… because He knew that anything not done in faith is sin (missing the mark). Even our best effort is missing the mark without Him… because we are insufficient…we NEED Him. As we accept this, we can then stop “hiding” and come to Him… who already knows we are insufficient in all things…and ask for/accept His sufficiency. And we can rejoice in this whole process, because He is our answer. The Hope we have in Him will then allows us to be able to press forward because we trust Him who IS sufficient, who sees ALL (present, past and future) and has Good things planned for us.
Father, we rejoice today in all that You are/have done for us. YOU ARE OUR HOPE! I ask for increasing wisdom, revelation and knowledge of You for every member of FBCSA. We want to know You… the One we have Hope in. Thanks for this blog. Please continue to Bless it. Thanks for the insight you are obviously giving Pastor Guthrie. Amen.