And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Matthew 10:1-4 ESV

            Who are these twelve men? What merit have they that Jesus should choose them to go out and minister with His authority? A few we know as fishermen, one is a tax-collector, and one a zealot. We are not given much of an introduction here, the resumes are not included, their skills and abilities are not catalogued, their previous accomplishments are nowhere mentioned. For all we know they have none to speak of.

            And this absence of credentials speaks loudly to the reason of their choosing. It has nothing to do with their resumes, and everything to do with the hearts of these twelve, to mysteries known only to God. Their abilities are not their own, but are granted by God to His purposes. The only common feature, and that which they are told to rejoice in, is that their names are written in the book of life: save for the traitor Judas. They have decided to follow Jesus, devoted themselves to His teachings.

            We know from later verses that these twelve did great works such as amazed them. If they could be used of God who is to be discounted? Do not look at your resume and dismiss yourself from the work God calls you to. Do not rest your confidence in your resume, but in God’s calling. And rejoice that your name is also written in the book of life.

Prayer

            Father let us hear Your call today clearly and answer it readily. To Your glory we ask it in Jesus’ name. amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Against work addiction

  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2 ESV             When work becomes anxious toil, something has gone wrong. Something has gone wrong in our society when it comes to work. Several decades ago, Wayne Oats coined a new word, “Workaholic” to describe addiction to work.   The description Oats came up resonates with the psalmist describes. Anxious toiling, long hours, and little if any enjoyment of the work itself or the fruits of the toil. Addiction is another word for slavery, and it is easy to be enslaved by the anxiety over our work for it drives to work more, and that increases our anxiety while also burning through psychological energies.             Not only is workaholism addiction/slavery, it is idolatry for if we stop to think about it the workaholic has placed his hope in his own work. Beloved what is truly tragic is that we live in society that admires the workaholi
Read more

Up and ahead

              Sometimes we are blindsided by a sudden shift in life. We thought we were on stable ground, and then someone starts shouting at us in a routine meeting, or tells us we don’t have a job anymore on a Monday morning, or a loved one leaves on Friday evening with no plans to return. We are left with broken piece of something that once made a kind of sense to us. We knew, and now we do not know.             Where is God? We can’t see Him anymore. We cannot understand where He went to, or what he was thinking. We trusted Him, didn’t we? Now look where we are… It is the better part of wisdom to be quiet when these calamities come to visit and to wait. It is the one wise thing Job’s friend did, when first they saw the plight of the miserable man, they only wept with him.             When later they decided to try and explain things, it did not help Job at all. What could they tell him? They didn’t have answers. And a lot of times we do not have answers either. We are too sca
Read more

Let me tell you something you already know

  Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.   I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 2 Peter 1:12-15 ESV             Peter greets the saints who obtained from Christ a faith of equal in standing, Peter is no more saved than they are, and they have no more salvation than Peter has. Nevertheless, Peter begins his letter by urging these saints, and by extension all of us, to increase in the faith and add to it such qualities as are consistent with the character of Christ. This is right, it is part of the promise, and it leads to an effective and fruitful faith. Failure to grow thus shows one has not understood the knowledge of Christ.            
Read more