Focus

Prepare yourself to discern what is and what is not of God today. Still yourself so you can hear how God is calling you.

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Read

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Reflect

To put these verses in context, they were spoken by Jesus after the “Return of the Seventy”. Remember that Jesus sent out seventy of his followers to travel in pairs into the towns that he planned to visit in the future, giving them the ability to heal the sick and perform other miracles. Now, the Seventy have come back and given their reports, and Jesus appears to be encouraged by what he has heard. In this joyful prayer, I believe that he offers thanks for those who share, as well as those who hear and understand his message.

If we think about it, Jesus sends us out just as he did the Seventy. We who call ourselves by his name are surely expected to be his disciples on this earth: We are his hands, and feet, and voice, and, yes, his love; and he must truly rejoice when we understand his message and share it with others. We do not have to have special training or education; we can be old or young, rich or poor; we just have to accept the
Gospel and be ready to tell others what our hearts have learned about our Savior. Since we are called to be his representatives, we surely need to make Jesus and his message as attractive to the world as possible. It seems to me that this attraction must come not just from the words we speak about our faith, but by the way we live our lives. An old hymn by Gypsy Smith, “Jesus Revealed in Me”, has long been a favorite of mine; it pretty much sums up what those lives should look like:

“Christ, The Transforming Light,
Touches this heart of mine,
Piercing the darkest night,
Making His glory shine.”
Chorus:
“Oh, to reflect His grace,(His grace)
Causing the world to see (to see)
Love that will glow,
till others shall know Jesus,
revealed in me.”
( Ed.,Text is in the public domain)

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Pray

Gracious God, touch us with the light of your love; and, as we are truly thankful for the grace that is shown to us every day, help us to show that love and grace to others. Let all that we meet look at us and see, not our flawed, human visages, but glorious
reflections of you.

Amen