Listen

“Whenever you enter a city and the people don’t welcome you, go out into the streets and say, ‘As a complaint against you, we brush off the dust of your city that has collected on our feet. But know this: God’s kingdom has come to you.’

Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Luke 10:10-11, 16

Think

I met Michelle over thirty years ago. As part of a college group, I traveled to a region of our country without many Christian churches. We came to help a small congregation. In the 1980s, no church had a Facebook page or website. God gave me the courage to knock on doors and invite people to worship. Most of the people remained polite, even if uninterested. A few people refused to answer the door. Occasionally, conversations went deeper. Michelle and I talked for 45 minutes. She had survived a violent car accident. The mangled vehicle sat in her driveway.

We talked more about Jesus than church. Having a relationship with Christ was a new concept for Michelle. She chose to wait rather than act on what we had discussed. Michelle wasn’t able to accept the fearless love that prompted me to knock on her door.

Brave voices will be rejected, mocked, and ridiculed in harsher ways –also during college, two professors publicly belittled my faith in Jesus. Here Jesus’ instructions for the disciples can help us stay brave, speak truth, and move on when necessary.

Brian Abel

Pray

God, being brave is hard when I feel rejected after sharing my faith. Remind me in those moments that Jesus and his followers were treated the same way. Give me the courage to love fearlessly by speaking up anyway. Amen.

Go

God’s strength allows us to be brave – to love fearlessly.

The journey may include challenges, discouragement, rejection, and betrayal.

Stay focused on the One who calls us forward and holds us up.