August 9th

Project Mission

Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side,' but he did not tell his father. And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron...But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. 1 Samuel 14:1-3

What's your favorite story from the Bible? David and Goliath? Daniel and the lion's den? Jesus walking on the water?

Let me add one more good one to the list, one of my favorites-Jonathan and the Philistine garrison. Do you know that one?

It's an amazing story, with Jonathan, one of my favorite guys in all of scripture, going on an adventure with a buddy of his, an armor bearer. See, the two of them decide to go up to the Philistine garrison that was occupying Israeli territory. And by going up, I mean that they were going to pick a fight. By themselves. Because they didn't tell anyone they were going, not even Jonathan's dad, the king.

This was like an extreme mission trip headed to the bad part of town. They knew they had a mission from God, so they accepted the challenge. This is one option we have; we could choose to be like Jonathan.

Or here's your other option. I don't know what you're planning to do with the rest of your life, but here's a lame thing you could do. You could be like Saul, just camping out under a tree. It's like, how long can you sit in the beach chair without saying, There's got to be something we can do today. There's got to be more to this life.

And Saul's just sort of like lounging, laying out. Now listen, I have no problem with that, okay? I mean just don't do that every day for the rest of your life, like absolutely no meaning or purpose to the whole deal. Don't sit around so lost in your own little world that you forget that there's a mission to do. Don't sit there so self-absorbed that your kids could wander off and you don't even notice.

I mean, really, there were only six hundred men in the camp, but when Jonathan leaves, not a single one notices. It's like Saul's apathy was contagious.

How about this? How about we vaccinate ourselves from catching Saul's apathy and instead choose to follow Jonathan's example? God's given us a mission to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ and they're not going to get saved by themselves.

Are you on the mission of God today?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for reminding me about the people around me who need to know You! Put in me today a heart like Jonathan's, a heart that will follow You anywhere no matter what.

Amen