A New Devotion - How Can We Expect

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

Matthew 26:47-56

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him." At once he came up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you are here to do." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?" At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

How Can We Expect

Years ago, I was a young minister out in eastern Montana. Now, in case you don’t know it, ministry can be discouraging, especially for men and women right out of seminary. You see, at best, we’re hoping that God will use us in new and exciting way and that we’ll be able to preach the kind of sermons and lead the kind of services that will draw people to the Gospel. Of course, most of us get a rude awakening when we enter our first churches, because life in the real church is different from what we’re taught in the classroom. And I’ll tell you, that can be really discouraging, especially for those who tend to measure success by numbers.

And one afternoon, I remember being particularly discouraged. Now I don’t remember if something had happened; I was just down because things just didn’t seem to be going the way I expected them to go. People just weren’t coming. And as I recall, I shared that with a colleague who’d been around the church a lot longer than me. And I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, “At the end of his ministry, Jesus had twelve people left: one betrayed him, one denied him and the rest ran away. How can we expect to do any better.”

Now that’s what he said, and I’ve got to say, it helped. You see, he was right. And even though we can and should continue to grow in our ability to share the good news, it’s important to keep things in perspective and to remember that our ministry is in the hands of God. And we’re simply called to do the best we can with what we’ve been given.