Jesus Take the Wheel
Oh, to be part of the “in-crowd”, to own a seat at the popular kids’ table. I imagine that is how the disciples felt. You can hear it written behind the lines of today’s reading. They were offended and slighted because someone dared cast out demons in the name of Christ when they were not one of Jesus’ elite followers. Ironically, this comes on the heals of an incidence where the disciples were not able to cast out a demon (Luke 9:37-43). Not only was someone stealing their thunder, they were doing it better.
Moving on to the second half of today’s reading, we have a Samaritan village which refuses to receive Jesus. Now, these same men who were so deeply offended by another doing good, suggest that Jesus burn down and destroy the village who did evil by rejecting Christ’s message. Both of these responses come from an insecure heart.
Philippians 2:13 tells us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourself.” The reverse of this can be seen in Psalm 37:1-2 which says, “Do not fret because of evil doers, Be not envious towards wrongdoers.” Insecurity and conceit may be opposite sides of the same coin. Each will rot our peace and poison our witness. We all struggle with these issues from time to time; the disciples were no different. In one moment, their insecurity led them to an apostle size temper-tantrum, and the next saw them prancing like a peacock and flexing a false sense of superiority. But, before we go casting these men in a bad light, we need to ask ourselves how often we do the same thing (though probably on a smaller scale).
We don’t need to worry that we are not good enough. We don’t need to walk around like we are better than anyone else either. We are who we are. Period. The secret weapon of Christianity is that none of it is about us. We didn’t choose our calling (Ephesians 1:11). We didn’t earn our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-10). We don’t even belong to ourselves. We are slaves of Christ, hidden in Him. God’s plan didn’t originate in our minds, nor does it depend on our abilities. We need to let go. We often say, “Jesus, take the wheel”, but that only works if we move over to the passenger seat. Let go of our ambitions and our feelings of not being enough. God’s plan is the one that will consistently and inevitably succeed, so let it. Get out of the way and back into a faithfully following position. While you follow behind and walk in His footsteps, don’t allow doubt to steal your purpose. God knows your strengths and weaknesses better than you do. He won’t call you to do something He can’t, or won’t, help you through.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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