ROMANS 10:14-15

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

TO PONDER

One thing I wonder when I read the book of Jonah is how did the King of Nineveh come to the conclusion that God might show them mercy? After all, the message Jonah proclaimed to them was not one that suggested God's mercy but rather announced God's impending judgement!

I think at least part of the answer is simply because God sent Jonah. Think about it, if God really just wanted to destroy Nineveh, why send a prophet at all? Surely the fact that God sent a messenger is a large part of how the king inferred that there may still be a chance to avert God's judgement.

That's why I love today's verse from Romans. We have a God who sends. He sent Jonah to Nineveh, he sent Jesus to all humanity, and now he sends us into the world so that others have a chance to hear the message of what he has done.

Make no mistake, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are being sent. However, what he sends you to do might look different to what he sends another person to do. Maybe you are being sent to show Jesus love to a struggling neighbour. Maybe God is preparing and equipping you to be sent to proclaim his message boldly on a street corner or on some international mission trip. Maybe you are being sent as an answer to someone else's prayer. The ways God sends us are numerous and varied. What is important and what both the story of Jonah and Paul's letter to the Romans reminds us of is the importance of being sent. As we are sent we are also, like Jonah, a witness to God's work of calling people back to himself, even if our words are not eloquent or our skills at theological debate are lacking, simply by being sent by God into a situation and faithfully being who he has made us to be, we communicate something of his nature as a God who sends and calls, a God who offers love and redemption to those who hear the message of those he sends.

So, where is God sending you today?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I thank you that you came to earth and fulfilled every task that the father sent you do accomplish, and you dit it all for me and all those who put their faith and trust in you. Please help me to have the courage to go were you send me and to trust that Holy Spirit is at work in me and in those to whom you send me, drawing them and calling them to faith in you. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle