I was reading in Luke 9 this morning, where Jesus calls His disciples to go out and share the news of the Kingdom. Then, following up, He says for them to not bring any extra.
3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town.5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
I was really challenged as I read this. We live in a world of surplus, where we have access to more than we could ever need to sustain our lives (in the Western world), and still we complain we don't have enough.
The disciples were told to literally drop everything to follow Him. They had no backup, they immediately left the comfort of their earthly life to follow a man who was condemn and rejected by the world. They didn't have security in a pot of savings, or even had a change of clothes or food to eat for the next day.
This full reliance on God is something He calls us to have, but something which is hard for us to experience in the world we live in. You know the verse about it being harder to get a camel through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter heaven? That's talking about us - those who have a roof over their head, food to eat and warm clothes to wear.
Maybe our surplus lifestyle is limiting us from knowing the full extent of God's provision and faithful for us?
When we are in times where ends don't meet, or we don't know where the money for our bills are coming from, there is hope that in that situation, we get to experience more of the fullness of God than if we were living financially comfortable.
Are you holding too tightly to the comfort and surplus the Western world lifestyle gives you, denying yourself the chance to experience God more to the fullest? Are we holding too tight to the extra shirt, should we be letting that go?
God, help me to complete rely on Your provision for my life.
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