Jesus gives advice to his friends
(From the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 10, verses 24-39)
When Jesus was alive on earth, many, many people needed to know God's special love for them. Jesus couldn't speak to each one of them, so he asked the 12 disciples to help. He told them to go to every Jewish village in Israel. He told them to heal those who were sick and to bring the good news that God's kingdom was very near.
The disciples wanted to help Jesus, but they weren't sure they could do what he wanted them to do. Even with God's help, they wondered if they'd really be able to make sick people feel better. And they weren't sure they could really help people who were feeling scared, desperate, or lonely.
Jesus knew what his friends were thinking. "You're worried about how well you will do as my helpers, aren't you?"
Andrew said, "Yes, we are, Jesus. You make it look easy, but we know it's not."
Jesus smiled. "Some days your work will go well. People will want to hear everything you have to tell them about God."
"That's good!" Andrew's brother, Peter, exclaimed.
"But," Jesus continued, "some days won't go as well. I know, because I've had plenty of bad days myself! People will tell you to go away. They'll call you mean names. They may even try to hurt you."
Matthew sighed. "That doesn't sound very good at all."
"It isn't, believe me!" Jesus told him. "But you have to remember that God will always be with you, on the good days and on the bad ones. People may try to get rid of you, but God will never do that." He pointed up to the branches of a tree nearby where a couple of birds were making a nest. "Do you see those little sparrows?" he asked his friends.
They all looked and nodded. "Yes, we see them," they told Jesus.
"So does God," Jesus said. "Neither of those birds can fall to the ground without God knowing it." Then he looked at each of them very carefully. "God knows everything about you – what you like, what scares you, what you need. God knows you so well that God even knows how many strands of hair are growing out of your head! So don't worry if you are afraid. Doing God's work is hard. It can turn your life upside down. It can make you question many of the things you take for granted. Loving God above everything and everyone else means that you have to stop worrying about yourself all the time. Forget about yourself. Do what I have asked you to do, and you'll discover a whole new 'you' that you didn't know existed."
Questions to think and pray about:
Have you ever had to do something that was hard? How did you do figure out how to do it?
Have you ever had a bad day? How did you get through it?
What do you know about yourself that no one else except God knows?
Can you talk with God about that?