Courage and faith, Luke 9:1-6. September 23, 2020 by Isak
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We are all disciples. And being a disciple is hard work. It is everything but safety and comfort, considering what happened to the disciples that is self evident. When asking people what faith gives them it is often words like safety, love and comfort that they use.
Whilst that is true, for me the best word is probably courage. Because looking at the world today, love and safety, doesn’t seem to be adequate, it looks like somebody missed a memo on how the world should work. So being chrisitan is not about safety and comfort. It is about finding the courage to “fight demons”, to take care of the relative suffering from a contagious disease.
To have the courage to go and serve the suffering in war zones with the Red Cross. It’s finding the courage to share the road with someone who suffers, because walking with someone in their darkest times is hard work.
It’s finding the courage to fail, and to others fail. At the end of the day someone else’s relationship with God is not my responsibility, nor mine to judge. I can point at God but then it is up to them. Fail at this. Often.
The ones I try walk with fail, and thus make me feel like a failure. It’s then we have to remember that when we fall, we fall into the hands of God. And that gives me the courage to get up and walk again, no matter how many times I fall, I still fall into the hands of God. If I let him catch me.
When I fail, I hurt the ones I love, anxiety gets the better of me, I feel like a complete waste of space, remember; you fall into the hands of God. And that is a comforting thought.
Isak – Westcoast chapter, Finland
Ministry of the Twelve – Luke 9:1-6
1Now Jesus called together the twelve [disciples] and gave them [the right to exercise] power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. 2Then He sent them out [on a brief journey] to preach the kingdom of God and to perform healing. 3And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey [that might encumber you]—neither a walking stick, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece. 4Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city [to go to another]. 5And as for all those who do not welcome you, when you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet [breaking all ties with them] as a testimony against them [that they rejected My message].” 6So they began going from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing the sick everywhere.