After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.This is the passage where Jesus was sending His disciples on a short-term missions trip. They weren't moving out to the mission field for their whole life, they were just going on a short trip. He was sending them out, and He knew they were coming back in just a few weeks.
He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road."
(Luke 10:1-4)
First of all, Jesus said, I am sending you out like lambs among the wolves. Maybe you feel very young, like you don't know that much about the Lord. You wonder how you could possibly go on a mission trip?
That's okay. Go! God wants you to go because He is going to use you to change the world.
I want you to see the kind of attitude Jesus sent the disciples out with. He said to go wherever they were sent, stay in the homes, and eat whatever was put before them.
He wants you to go with a selfless attitude. Don't go with a self-righteous attitude like you're such a great person because you are going. Jesus says to go with the intentions of giving your life away.
Go to serve these people, go to care about them, go to bless them, go to let them know that He really cares about them.
We're talking about being mature believers. A mature believer gives his life away and doesn't ask anything in return. Jesus was trying to show His disciples from the very beginning that if they were going to make their mark on the world, they were going to have to be selfless about it. They were going to have to be willing to give it all away.
It's time for us to get out of our comfort zones and realize that we have to be selfless if we're going to change the world. The mark of real maturity is being much less concerned about yourself and more concerned about others, especially being concerned about whether they turn to salvation.
And Other Myths About Maturity In Christ
by Ron Luce.
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing