Today’s Battle Drill Devotional: Loving Others is Messy
“Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master”. (Matthew 10:24)
Read Matthew 10:1-42. Do you sometimes wonder if life would be easier without other people? We can be tempted to think this way, particularly after meeting someone who really frustrates us! And there is some truth in it, of course.
Jesus came to give us a rich and satisfying life. But he didn’t say it would be easy! He left the safety of heaven for us, inviting pain and sorrow into his life. He was misunderstood. He was unappreciated. He died an excruciating, naked, lonely death on a cross. Jesus’ life and ministry was messy.
When Jesus called his first followers, he made it clear they should expect much of the same. As he says, “Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master” (Matthew 10:24). We will probably not die on a cross, but every day we will die to ourselves and our needs and desires as we seek to love others as Jesus did. Doing so costs time and energy and always disrupts our lives in some way.
When we make such sacrifices, when we decide to love others, however frustrating they might be at time, when we choose to live in the messy rather than the safe then we bring resurrection life and spiritual fruit in us and in those around us.
THINK IT OVER
Do you play it safe? Or are you OK with the messiness of life?
