Matthew 10:1-4; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16
The story for our devotional today is found in three of the Gospels, It is about the time when Jesus selected his apostles.
Luke 6:12-16
[12] In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God. [13] When daylight came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles: [14] Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; [15] Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alphaeus and Simon called the Zealot; [16] Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
From this reading, reflect on two things today:
1. Being a loner is a waste of opportunity.
Movies and television glamorize the loner, the one guy who can go out on his own and do what nobody else can do. That is mostly an idea built up in fiction. If you want to accomplish something great, you are going to need others. Jesus came to die for our sins, yes, but he also came to build the church. How did he do that? He picked twelve men and trained them for the task.
I wonder what it was like when Jesus first got back to heaven. Did the angels gather around and ask, “Did you build your kingdom?” Jesus answered, “I only got it started. There is much more work to be done.”
The angels asked, “What’s the plan? With you in heaven, how will the kingdom work be done?”
And Jesus answered, “I left twelve men to do the work of spreading the kingdom.”
The angels then said, “But they might fail. What is your backup plan?”
And Jesus said, “There is no backup plan.”
Jesus needed the twelve and all those who followed after them. That is his plan. If Jesus leaned on others, then we need to do the same. Everybody needs somebody. If you don’t have them, seek and find them. They will change your life.
2. I remind you of the thing you always do before starting, It is always the same.
That thing is found in verse 12 of today’s reading. “Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.”
What was that one thing? Jesus prayed about it. Unless you have prayed about it first, then you are not ready.
Lonnie Davis