God Together

God has a unique relationship with His people. 

Many of the other gods that men have worshiped over the years have had either no use for men or perverse use for men. They have either required nothing much from the men who worship them or they have toyed with them. They have depended on men to feed them, to satisfy their desires, to satisfy their whims. They have used men as cosmic pawns in their battle, have ignored men, have degraded men. 

Our God partners with men. 

You would think that when God came to earth in full form as a human, He wouldn't have needed any help. And you would be right. Jesus was fully capable of doing everything that He came do to, all by Himself. At the same time, He chose to surround Himself with men, to minister to men, to disciple men, to eat with men, to bathe with men, to travel with men. 

And when the time came, He chose to send men out to proclaim His Kingdom - the very Kingdom He was already living out among them. The very Kingdom that was already drawing crowds from everywhere. There was nowhere Jesus could go where the people didn't already seem to know about Him, and yet, He sent men out to proclaim Him and to do even more good works in His name anyway. 

Luke tells us He sent men out twice. 

First, in Luke 9, Jesus sent out the twelve. He sent them out proclaiming and trying to make welcome in new spaces, advising them to shake the dust off their feet if they weren't welcome and to keep on moving. And then, just one chapter later, He sends out the seventy-two (Luke 10:1). 

This means He sent out both the apostles and the disciples. The faithful and the inner circle. The many and the few. He sent everyone. 

And this is important - because no other god in the history of humankind has sent men out to proclaim grace. To proclaim mercy. To proclaim healing. To proclaim goodness. 

Every other god has used men to display their strength, dominance, demand, authority, whatever; only our God uses us to proclaim His love. To set the captives free, give sight to the blind, forgive sinners, invite the lonely, find the lost. 

And He wants to do it together. With us. With us as part of His master plan. With us as part of His faithful. With us as part of His inner circle. 

He could have done it without us. I mean, what else does the Lord of the universe need when He's already turned water into wine, given sound to the deaf, voice to the mute, movement to the lame, and life to the dead? He could have done it all without us and still been God. 

But doing it with us makes Him something more. It makes Him loving. 

And that's what He most wants to show us that He is.