Faith Required

“And [Jesus] said to [the disciples], ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.’” Luke 9:3

I love getting rid of stuff! Clutter drives me crazy, so one of my favorite activities is cleaning out a closet or a drawer and seeing all the things that we don’t need, never use, or are just worn out. As such, I don’t really have any clothes that I don’t wear. Everything in my closet gets into the rotation! That said, I have several pairs of jeans, a ton of t-shirts, a bunch of hoodies and lots of shorts for the summer. I never worry about having something to wear.

Jesus spent the first while after He had chosen His disciples preparing them to go out and share the Gospel (Luke 6-8). He taught them, answered their questions and performed miracles. In Luke 9, He gave them authority and sent them out. Notice His instructions in our verse today–“Don’t take anything with you!” No food, no money and no extra clothes! Wouldn’t it have been a good idea to have a few bucks in case of emergency? A spare shirt in case something wore out? Why did He do that? I think Jesus was forcing His disciples to trust Him- -and they had to since they had nothing to fall back on.

Friend–God wants us to trust Him. In fact, it is impossible to please God if we are not living a life of faith (Hebrews 11:6). Our lives are so comfortable–but God has not called us to be comfortable. He has called us to trust Him. Let ask you this–what are you doing right now that requires faith?

-Pastor Mike