Today’s title is a quote from Elwood Blues in The Blues Brothers. The mission from God for Jake and Elwood was to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised from foreclosure.
Luke 4:40-43 shows how Jesus was focused on his mission. The folks in Capernaum were begging him to stay in their town because of all the healing that he was doing. They were amazed to see how he was curing people with high fevers and sickness. Their attitude was “Please stick around. We can’t get enough of this! Don’t leave!” But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. (Luke 4:43)
Though the townspeople in Capernaum pleaded, Jesus could not let himself be distracted from his own mission of spreading the good news to all the towns in the area.
Sometimes we need to clarify just what our mission is….and stick to it.
The organizing expert Marie Kondo asks, “Does it bring you joy?” She’s talking about whether to keep or discard material things, but joy can be a key in our own mission. We believe in the Holy Spirit and we know that one of his fruits is joy. So we find out which activities are bringing us joy, and especially those which bring others joy, as a way of seeing whether they fit into our mission from God.
Here’s two tests of whether it’s the Holy Spirit talking. If you’re feeling led by guilt into doing something, accompanied by a definite lack of joy, it’s probably not the Holy Spirit! But when what you’re going to do fills you with joy, even when you know it won’t necessarily be easy, there is a good chance that it is the Holy Spirit.
When we are pursuing our mission from God and seeking what God is sending us to do, we have the privilege of walking in God’s favor:
May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)
Then, today’s opening quote activates in our lives:
“They’re not gonna catch us. We’re on a mission from God.”
Kenny B's World 