Be Lamb-Like

Luke 10 tells the story of Jesus sending out His disciples.  In addition to the twelve who were already His students, Jesus rounded up 72 others and sent them in pairs ahead to all the towns and places He planned to visit.

His instructions were clear and the assignment was spelled out:
“The harvest is great, but the workers are few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest and ask Him to send more workers in His fields."  (verse 2)
“Now go and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.”  (verse 3)
“Don’t take any money with you…”  (verse 4)
“Don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.”  (verse 5)

The mission was given.
The task was laid out.

They were to labor in the harvest that had few workers.
They were to pray for more helpers.
They were to be so concentrated on their work that nothing was allowed to interfere with it - not even the distraction of finances or the disturbance of social engagement.

And they were to remember the wolves while serving as lambs.

It seems like almost like an irresponsible and unreasonable protocol for serving as weak, timid, and docile animals.  Would they not be torn to pieces completely?

But could it be that a “meek and lamb-like spirit” among ravenous beasts is precisely the condition that courts victory?

Our Jesus was meek.  Isaiah 53:7 still nearly brings me to tears, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”

The apostle Paul intimates the meekness of our Savior when he says, “Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ…”  (2 Cor 10:1)

To be meek is this, by definition, “humble, patient, overly submissive or compliant, tame, gentle, kind, forbearing, yielding, calm, and soft.”

It is the lamb-like that look more like the Jesus they claim to follow.
It is the lamb-like that Jesus is sending out so to reveal His Spirit in and through.

Jesus tells us that it is the lamb-like… the meek… the humble… who “inherit the earth.”  (Mt 5:5)  So it is, that I cannot be anything else.

Being lamb-like is refusing to retaliate when things don’t go your way.
Being lamb-like is not needing to win every argument… in fact, maybe it’s not so much as even attending an argument you’ve been invited to.
Being lamb-like is listening to the voice of the Shepherd - moving when He says to move, staying when He says to stay.

In a world gone mad, in a world filled with ferocious wolves seeking to kill, steal, and destroy, may we maintain a lamb-like nature.

Oh God, make us better.