Day 21 of 50

READING GUIDE:

• Read today's devotion below.
• During days 15-21 (at your own pace) read chapters 7 thru 10 from Joining Jesus on His Mission.
• After days 15-21, meet with your small group and follow the back-of-the-book discussion guide for SESSION 3.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV)

A couple months ago a friend and I drove my '97 Accord from the Chicago area to a town outside of Houston, Texas. Much trust was involved in this trip. My car's A/C is broken, so we were trusting in God that we wouldn't melt on the way down there. My car had nearly 195,000 racked up on the odometer. Lastly, I didn't have a printed map in the car, just my GPS. All went well. We made it there and back to our homes safely. God even blessed us with some cooler-than-usual temperatures when in the Houston area. 

The only "weird" time with the GPS was when it directed us off the highway driving through Oklahoma. Following the GPS' instructions, we drove down a road for about a mile, turned around, and then got back onto the highway at the same place we had gotten off of it. Something faulty happened there. It seemed like we had just wasted our time...but you never know. God could have recalculated our trip so as to avoid an accident.

It seems to me that when joining Jesus on His mission much trust is involved. Like my car, we've got a lot of imperfections. Whereas saved by Jesus Christ, we are still sinful beings who mess up. Because of our imperfections, when sharing the love of Jesus, we worry and are fearful that we'll say and/or do something wrong, something that will end the conversation or, much worse, end a friendship.

Finke offers these words at the end of chapter 10, "When we miss our missional opportunity, when we blow by our missional turn, we repent and he recalculates. We may not be very good at being missionaries, but he is very good at being God. He's got this."

So when it comes to God's Plan for Sharing the love of Jesus, we trust in Him with all our heart. We lean not on our own understanding. In all our ways, we acknowledge Him. And He will make straight our paths.

How does trusting in God provide you with encouragement as you join Jesus on His mission?