{"id":4438,"date":"2017-09-05T13:26:59","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T18:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=4438"},"modified":"2017-09-05T13:26:59","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T18:26:59","slug":"what-is-your-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/09\/what-is-your-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Your Etc.?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

When Jesus sent out his disciples, he was kind enough to pair them up two by two. He gave them authority to deal with evil opposition, to which I suppose they may have gulped, eyes wide with fear. But what he didn\u2019t give them was equally disturbing:<\/p>\n

He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;\u00a0but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. Mark 6:8-9<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It seems as though Jesus was stacking the deck against them. No money? No food? No extra tunic? Really? This seems like some sort of bizarre hazing ritual.
\nOr perhaps it was a brilliant way to teach them how to leave behind what they\u2019ve known so that they would have to meet new people and experience new things, on their own terms. I think Jesus was teaching them how to enter new places without relying on their usual bag of tricks, or their charm, or anything other than the stark reality of possibility.<\/strong>
\nHe was teaching them what to bring and what not to bring, but he couldn\u2019t teach them all the same thing, because each one of them needed to discover what their own unique etc was. And they\u2019d only discover it by leaving home with as little as possible.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nSometimes the only way to find your etc is by getting it wrong, or getting lost.
\nMy friend calls this kind of knowing \u201cexperiential knowledge.\u201d There is a certain kind of wisdom that is only gained by finding out what you don\u2019t know. I trust people who know what they don\u2019t know.
\nYou know?
\nI wonder if those disciples stumbled more than a few times. They most likely got it wrong more than they got it right.
\nBut I also wonder if, at some point, they experienced the wide-open freedom of releasing the need to know and the need to control their environment.<\/strong> Because they brought nothing other than one another and the power that Jesus anointed them with, they saw and experienced a level of transformation that you don\u2019t get to experience if you insist on bringing your expertise.
\nYou may be in a situation right now that\u2019s brand new, and you have no idea what you have with you that will work, and you feel utterly incompetent. Unprepared. Destined for failure. Afraid.
\nYou need to know something else. Before Jesus sends you anywhere, he asks you to come and be with him, because he wants you.<\/p>\n

He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him.\u00a0And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message,\u00a0and to have authority to cast out demons. Mark 3:13-15, emphasis added<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Have you ever experienced the thrill of being wanted and invited into something special? It\u2019s so much better than being good at something. It\u2019s so much better than being admired or being successful. It\u2019s also so much more vulnerable and risky.
\nA few years ago, my son Elijah got a bad rash all over his body, so I took him to urgent care. We read books in the waiting room. I helped him pick out a sticker on the way out. We talked. A few days later, he asked me if we could go back to the doctor\u2019s office.
\nI smiled. \u201cWhy do you want to go back to the doctor\u2019s office?\u201d I asked him.
\n\u201cI liked being with just you, Dad\u2014just you and me,\u201d he said.
\nDo you believe it\u2019s possible that Jesus calls you to be with him, primarily because he wants you and wants to be with you?
\nI\u2019ve been a pastor for more than twenty years, and my experience is that most people believe that they\u2019re an agenda for Jesus. They believe that Jesus just wants to change them, clean them up, and send them out. He\u2019s available for triage when they mess up, but he\u2019s mostly miffed because there\u2019s a whole world out there that needs saving and people\u2019s petty troubles and anxieties are wasting his time.
\nI am more convinced than ever that what restores us most fully is the belief that Jesus wants us to be with him, exactly as we are and not as we should be, and that he is not in a hurry for us to change right away.<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s God\u2019s kindness that leads to repentance (see Romans 2:4). Repentance simply means \u201cchanging your mind about where you\u2019re going in order to be made whole.\u201d Our wholeness\u2014our restoration\u2014is a result of God\u2019s kindness, not God\u2019s determination that we get it right.
\nJesus took these disciples into his life and opened up his humanity to them. He taught them, he laughed with them, he ate with them, and he stayed up late into the night talking to them. He encouraged them. He challenged them. I can imagine each of them opening up like flowers in the springtime.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nDetermining your own etc\u2014those extra things you\u2019re going to need that I can\u2019t even begin to tell you about, because it has to do with what\u2019s really essential for you; it\u2019s specific to what you\u2019ll need, and only you can discover what that is\u2014is not something you can study for and then pass, like a test.
\nYou\u2019ll only find out your etc by leaving what is familiar and taking with you only that which you discover you need while you\u2019re on the way there. Fortunately, we\u2019re not sent out alone on that journey. And thank goodness, we are called to be with Jesus before we are even sent out.
\nAs you travel your own road toward wholeness, may you come to know that you need only bring your dependence and your trust in the one who calls you to be with him, not because you\u2019re an agenda but because he wants to be with you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

You’ve been reading from Whole<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>by Steve Wiens. For Christians who lament the brokenness in themselves, their neighbors, and the world around them, Whole<\/em> offers a rallying cry to pursue wholeness together. Continue reading from Whole<\/em> right now<\/a>. Listen to Steve on his podcast This Good Word<\/a> or check out his other book Beginnings: The First Seven Days of the Rest of Your Life.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Jesus sent out his disciples, he was kind enough to pair them up two by two. He gave them authority to deal with evil opposition, to which I suppose they may have gulped, eyes wide with fear. But what … <\/p>\n

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