Like a battlefield leader or champion coach I can hear God say to this generation, “Stay focused on what’s important to me.” “Don’t get distracted!”
In Luke 10 Jesus sends his people on mission. He gives them two main activities underpinned with a few instructions. He says, “8 Whenever you go into a city and they welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 and heal those in it who are sick [authenticating your message], and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
The two-fold action is 1) Action – heal the sick, and 2) Words – Tell them the kingdom has come near to them.
God wants his Kingdom to come. He needs us to remain focused on what’s important to him for us.
When giving us instructions on life, Jesus taught on the mount ‘how’ to get prayer right. He etched in many a generation’s mind ‘what’s important to him.
Not what’s important to man, or that which notarises man. Aka, his reproof of Pharisees praying on street corners.
His instruction was, “7 “And when you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 So do not be like them [praying as they do]; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father, who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven. …”
In this prayer Jesus highlights what’s important for us when it comes to God’s ‘mission’ for our lives. To see his kingdom come and his will to be done. This is his priority. We have no place for negotiation in this mission. Our mission is to do Christ’s mission!
However, prone to distraction, often for self-centred reasons we can get unstuck.
Keep the main thing the main thing
Of the few instructions Jesus gives his followers in Luke 10: 1-16 one in particular I want to highlight in this blog. In verse 4 Jesus instructs, “4 Don’t take any money with you, or a beggar’s bag, or even an extra pair of shoes. And don’t waste time along the way.”
Don’t waste time along the way.
As humans, since the Garden of Eden, we have got unstuck by distraction. Another tree, our finances, our skills and abilities (or lack thereof), meeting someone along the way. Here Jesus cautions us to avoid a conversation which distracts us from doing what’s important to him.
The question we need to ask ourselves is “what am I getting distracted by” during this time of Covid? Fear, end-times theology, my agenda, my ambition, fruitless busyness, my haircut, fashion, toilet paper?
Let’s consider deeply what’s important to Jesus. Our King. The supreme, reigning king of the greatest kingdom on earth – Christ’s Kingdom. It is true, it is real, it is powerful when we take ‘his’ mission for ‘our’ lives seriously.
Let’s actively see his kingdom come to our workplace, our family, our friends, neighbours and community.
Don’t waste time along the way – let’s keep his kingdom, the gospel of his kingdom, the ‘main thing’ for us to do.
