Parenting and Family,  Relationship with God

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Real apprenticeship

Today I finish my series of posts on Matthew chapter 10, and its fitting that Jesus finishes the chapter with the passage that I found most confronting.

I spent much of my life and ministry looking for the big things, the silver bullets, that would make the world a better place.

Turns out I was looking in the wrong place:

By the end of chapter 10 I was feeling overwhelmed.

As I started to let myself hear what Jesus was actually saying and not what I wanted him to say, the very assumptions behind the way that I looked at the world and my ministry were rocked.

What did I do now? Where did I start?

Jesus had the answer:

Matthew 10:42 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. You won’t lose out on a thing.”

It turns out that ministry and mission isn’t actually that complicated. It involves being right here, right now, and serving the need you see in front of you.

It means putting myself aside and serving.

Rather than putting myself in a place of control, I place myself in  a real apprenticeship under the one master who won’t let me down.

Rather than looking to organise the world around my needs, I give myself to the needs of others.

Rather than trying to convince people of my worldview, I live my values.

Yes it is a large work he has called us in to.. but that doesn’t mean I have to make myself large. I need to allow myself to be small, under Him.

I feel that my odyssey with Matthew chapter 10 was clear evidence of God’s grace in my life.

It turns out I was entering into what would be the most difficult year of my life and I have come back and back to what Jesus showed me in this one chapter.

Yeah I keep stuffing up, getting self centered and wanting to fight for myself, but there is part of me that is getting stronger that realises it was never about me in the first place.

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