A People with One Foot Raised

Jesus is calling us to be a people with one foot raised! Ready to go, to be mobilised into the purposes and plans of God.

Luke 10:1-24

Don’t let fear, anxiety, need for worldly security, or feelings of unworthiness hold you back. You are a child of God—walk in that identity and power.

As a young Spanish man, Ignatius, (1491-1556), lived a worldly life. In 1521 his leg was shattered by a canon ball in a battle with the French, and during his long convalescence he was touched by Christ and became a follower. Years later he founded a movement called the Jesuits. In a letter to the Jesuits, he wrote that they should live always “with one foot raised” in readiness for service and mission. The Jesuits continue today based on Ignatius’s vision, to be a people who are marked with Christ’s values of poverty, chastity, obedience

and worldwide mission.

This aspect of living “with one foot raised” can be seen when Jesus sent out the 72 in Luke 10. They were to go without provisions, to go into villages where God would provide people of peace, to expect challenge and rejection, and to share the good news so that people might hear and respond to the invitation to be saved. The disciples obeyed and came back rejoicing that “even the demons submitted to us in your name” (v17). Jesus corrected their source of joy, its not that the demons submitted, but that those saved, have their “names written in heaven” (v20).

Jesus is calling us to be a people with one foot raised! Ready to go, to be mobilised into the purposes and plans of God. In our life as a family, it has seen us uproot from Brisbane to live in Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Ulverstone and back to Brisbane. To leave medical laboratory science working for S&N to go into pastoral ministry. To reach out to neighbours and friends and see people come to know Jesus and go on with Jesus. It has involved cost, sacrifice, hurt, pain and rejection along with great blessing.

Be poised and ready to go with Christ where he leads. Don’t let fear, anxiety, need for worldly security, or feelings of unworthiness hold you back. You are a child of God—walk in that identity and power.

God Bless

Pastor Stephen