Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 10:1–12,17–20

Have you ever felt like your productivity defines your worth? As if your ability to accomplish and succeed and check all the boxes makes you more worthy, more lovable? 

You're not alone. So many of us struggle with it. Or at least go through seasons of wrestling with it. Even when I think that I've let go of the lie that my worth is performance-based, I catch myself slipping back into it. I see it in the way I question if I'm doing enough as a wife, mother, and daughter. I see it in the way I look to external signs and achievements to prove to myself, and others, and maybe even to God that I am enough, that I am "doing life correctly."

There's a passage in Sunday's gospel that really speaks to me and causes me to pause. It's when the disciples return to Jesus after being sent out on a mission. They're rejoicing, excited by the work they had accomplished, the fruit of their labors: "The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name'" (Luke 10:17). 

Their joy is not entirely bad or wrong, but it is lacking. It was because of what they could do, what they had accomplished, that they found joy. Yes, they acknowledge the demons are subject to Jesus' name, but they give themselves credit too: "even the demons are subject to us."

But Jesus quickly corrects them. He helps them refocus where their source of joy should be coming from: 

"Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents' and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven" [emphasis added] (Luke 10:19–20). 

Jesus reminds His disciples, and in turn, each of us, that our joy should not come from what we do, but in Whose we are. 

So my sisters, rejoice because you have been chosen and set aside. Rejoice because He has called you His, because you are the daughter of a King, because there is an eternal dwelling place waiting for you with Him. Rejoice because you are beloved. 

God has chosen you, from all eternity, to be here, at this very moment in time, simply because He loves you. Rest and rejoice in His love, not in your productivity.

Food for thought or journaling . . . 

Sunday is the Sabbath, a day set apart for rest. What would it look like to embrace the gift of this rest fully? What would it be like to surrender your to-do lists and tasks, and instead, abide with our Lord, sit at His feet, and dwell in the mystery that we have a God who is continuously calling us home? 

Lord, guide me on the path to true joy—a joy that is not dependent upon my circumstances or achievements but is born out of the truth that I am Your beloved daughter. Let my joy be rooted in hope; hope in the glory of heaven, the promise that if I love You well, I will one day rejoice with You for eternity. 

P.S. Need help finding true rest this season? Join us for 31 days of rest during the month of July. Find weekly inspirations in our newsletter, Encounter. Follow us on social media for more reflections and inspiration. Purchase your copy of Rest: 31 Days of Peace.