Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
Packing for a trip excites me! Each item I place in my bag opens my imagination to its purpose during my trip. As I grab my suntan lotion to pack, I can almost feel the warmth of the sun and smell the salt in the ocean-infused air. When I set my Bible and journal in my bag, I can imagine the quiet and the coffee that a moment of solitude with my Lord will provide. Packing builds my expectation for what is to come!
Packing also helps ensure that I will have what I need while away. Someone once said to me, “fail to prepare; prepare to fail.” Meaning, if you don’t prepare for something, get ready, you will probably not succeed at it. Packing is similar. My day at the beach will be a failure without proper preparation. If I do not pack a bathing suit, suntan lotion, and a snack, I will be a hangry (so hungry that I’m angry), burned, sad soul who could only enjoy the tease of feet in the water.
If packing has so much value, why did Jesus discourage His disciples from making normal preparations for this initial missionary trip? It was customary for missionaries of Jesus’s day to carry a staff for protection, an extra set of clothes, a bag to beg if all resources had been exhausted, and a belt to hold money in.*
The underlying truth in this portion of the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus wanted His disciples to a) stand apart from the missionaries with other messages of the day who became a burden and begging annoyance to those around them, b) He wanted them to rely entirely on the care of God understanding that He is their source and He can pay their way.*
While God may not call all of His disciples to go out into the world in the same manner as this initial missionary journey, He does call all of His disciples to engage the culture in a way specific to that culture that does not mirror the mechanisms of the world (like begging) while depending upon Him completely.
Our example of dependence upon God alone along with our abandonment of the mechanisms of this world for perpetuating messages communicates to the world that God cares about our needs and that we should rely on Him.
God desires to bless His disciples, but the emphasis is not the blessing. The emphasis is following Jesus, no matter the cost, and relying on Him fully. When we do, God may bless us to be a blessing, but He certainly will meet our needs as He defines them as a good Father. Surely, we must live however necessary to perpetuate the Gospel and position our possessions to bless others. To emphasize the blessing of God is to encourage people with a false gospel that reinforces the same materialistic goals that draw the young to sell drugs and the old to sell their souls in politics. We must pursue God, not the gifts, trusting that He will care for our good.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to rely less on preparation and more on Him. Perhaps God is asking you to go on a mission and the guarantees are not all in place as you would have it. Maybe God wants you to adjust your goals from a pursuit and hunger for blessing to a thirst for His will. Perhaps God wants your expectation and preparation to be rooted in His voice of sending.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 244–251, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 10:5-15) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).