A call to let go of our worldly safety net
27 September 2017
This passage of the Gospel is Jesus’ call to us to spread the good news and bring healing amongst our world. But the most confronting part of the mission in this modern age is ‘Take nothing for the journey’! He tells us not to concern ourselves with taking money, food, clothing, possessions or support!
But what about my superannuation account? How will I ever afford to enter the housing market? An overseas holiday every two years isn’t unreasonable is it? And there are such gorgeous clothes available this season… We are all bombarded by materialism every moment of the day and it is impossible not to fall prey to its seductive powers at times. This inevitably results in us becoming envious or stressed by our perceived lack of ‘things’.
But Christ is urging us to set forth in simplicity and to trust that He has equipped us with all we need for the journey. He doesn’t want us to be distracted by clutching to safety nets of worldly possessions. His love and steadfastness offers us liberty from this consumeristic society – we can bear witness through lives freed from the baggage of our aspirational society.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. … Matt 6:25-34
Jesus gives us freedom from anxiety and fear for our futures – the challenge is to let go of our man-made safety blanket and accept His divine provision!