This chapter’s theme is about being ready for persecution of our faith. Jesus made it clear that we would be persecuted, which means we should never be surprised when we are. As Americans we have no idea what true persecution looks like. I hope if I am ever truly persecuted I will be able to withstand whatever comes my way. Verse 39 makes it clear, “9 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” I need to always remember that honoring God is the most important thing I can ever do because my blessing will be for eternity.
2012 Day 35 – Matthew 10
04 Saturday Feb 2012
Posted in Daily Reading
Daily Devotion 
As I think about potential persecution for my faith, my concern always defaults to physical or relational harm here on earth. Verse 28 makes it pretty clear what my mindset should be, “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28 HCSB) My focus should always remain on God, because He is ultimately and eternally in control.
Very good stuff, Brian! I do the same thing. I worry about physical or even mental persecution, when it is very temporary. Our concern should always be more about the eternal consequences.
I love how Jesus gives precise instructions on how to go out and “spread the Good News.” We tend to get this idea that we have to go to some far off place. He’s basically saying, “Hey, love people right here around you.” Yeah, it doesn’t sound super exciting like a Jim Elliot type story, but he’s telling us to do basically what he did. He did travel all that far during his ministry. It was a very small area he covered. And he went where he was welcome. Being raised Baptist, all the pressure of the salvation of souls is put on your shoulders. If somebody doesn’t get saved, it’s your problem, it’s your fault. Jesus says, “If they don’t welcome you, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug you shoulders and be on you way. You can be sure that on Judgement Day they’ll be mighty sorry – but that’s no concern of yours.” Bingo. How about letting God be God and not being so stinking co-dependent? 🙂
And then my favorite part: “you’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.” Another little verse Christians don’t like looking at. Cunning? Oh no! That’s sounds mean! That doesn’t fit our mold of being nice. But you look at Jesus’ life and you see how cunning he was. Not in a negative way, but in the sense that he wasn’t naive. He knew what the Pharisees were up to. He knew they were out to kill him. And he knew how to out maneuver them until he knew the time was right to allow them to capture him. We tend to forget that Jesus wasn’t just suddenly captured, and that he was caught by surprise. He allowed it. He’d spent 3 years outwitting them. He spent 3 years being very cunning.
And then the end of the chapter, his words of encouragement. “This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice.” Start small. It’s OK. He’s not asking us to take over the world. He’s asking us to give somebody a meal. Give someone a coat. Oh, if we would only live our lives at that level of simplicity! And if more opportunities arise out of that level of faithfulness, then great. Take them on. But it still arises out living out a very simplistic life of love. This is hard to grasp in our fame laden culture. This striving for fame has unfortunately impacted the church greatly. So now everyone wants to “do great things for God.” Um, memo to the church, God’s pretty big, and since he, like, ya know, conquered death, our “great things” aren’t so “great.” Try visiting an elderly person in hospice. Try singing your songs to kids in a cancer ward. Try bringing a bag of groceries to someone who’s in need. This paradigm shift is what God is rewiring in my brain right now hence my passion about it. My current mantra is what Jesus says over and over, “You have been treated generously, so live generously.”
So much good stuff in this chapter. I could spend awhile here.
Wow, Sarah, these are some really great thoughts! I think what struck me the most about what you said is that we really do need to let God be God! We try so hard to worry about WWJD instead of just letting Jesus do… I’m not trying to say we should sit back and do nothing, but we do need to control the things we can control and leave the rest up to God.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Keep them coming!