Saturday morning was the time I remember as a child, going on errands for my mother. I would have some money in one pocket, a carefully detailed list in another pocket and I would hop on my bike and ride to the shop to buy whatever mum required.
I was proud to be have been sent on this errand, not only because I had been asked to do something useful, but because it gave me a sense of independence and achievement.
“Being sent” can be a very powerful experience not just because of what we are doing for the person who is sending us, but in the way it empowers us as we meet the needs and requirements of the sender.
John’s Gospel, in the Bible, says a whole lot about God as a “Sending God”. Throughout the Gospel there are 26 references to God the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit as one who sends, and Jesus constantly referred to himself as having been sent. What that says to me is that it is part of God’s nature to be a “sending God”.
And the sending of nature of God was evident in Jesus when he said … “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.“
As I reflect on what it means for me to be a follower of Jesus, I am reminded of proudly riding my bike to the corner store on Saturday morning, the list in one pocket and the money jingling in the other. Doing what Jesus wants in my life is something I can do with a knowledge that I have been sent by the creator of the universe on an amazing errand.
What’s more, he’s given me the resources for the job in one pocket (the Holy Spirit), the list in the other (the Scriptures), and the independence and authority to fulfil his requests.
INSPIRE NEWSCAST 