A Sent Life
READ
Imagine the scene: the disciples huddled behind locked doors, fearful and uncertain. Their hopes had been crucified three days earlier, and now rumors of an empty tomb swirled through their confusion. Then suddenly, Jesus appeared. Not with rebuke for their abandonment, but with a gift: "Peace be with you."
And then, before the shock could settle, He gave them their new identity: "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Let’s take a moment to read John 20:19-23:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
REFLECT
This is one of the most stunning statements in Scripture. Jesus doesn't say, "As I was sent, so you should try to imitate me." He says, "I am sending you"—present tense, active voice. The mission that brought God's Son from heaven to earth now continues through His Church. We are not spectators of redemption but participants in it.
Think about what it meant for the Father to send Jesus. It meant incarnation—God taking on flesh and dwelling among us. It meant presence—Jesus eating with sinners, touching lepers, weeping at graves. It meant sacrifice—a willingness to pour out His life for the world He loved. And now, breathtakingly, that same pattern defines our purpose.
This calling is both privilege and responsibility. We don't get to retreat into spiritual isolation, maintaining our holiness by avoiding the messiness of the world. Jesus prayed that we would not be taken out of the world but protected while in it. We're meant to be embedded in the fabric of everyday life—workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, grocery stores—as carriers of Christ's presence.
But here's the beautiful paradox of John 17: we are in the world but not of it. We participate fully in human life without being defined by its brokenness. We engage culture without being consumed by it. We love people deeply while remaining rooted in a different Kingdom.
This is what it means to be sent. You are Christ's representative in your particular corner of creation. The risen Lord who breathed His Spirit into those frightened disciples now breathes that same Spirit into you. Where you go, He goes. What you touch, He touches. Whom you love, He loves through you.
The question isn't whether you're sent—that's already decided. The question is whether you'll embrace the sending. Will you see your daily life as mission territory? Will you recognize that your presence in that difficult workplace, that struggling neighborhood, that complicated family system is no accident? You are there on purpose, for a purpose.
The same Jesus who walked dusty roads healing and teaching, who ate with tax collectors and defended the accused, who wept over Jerusalem and welcomed children—that Jesus now sends you into your world with His peace and His power. You don't go alone. You go as the continuation of His incarnation, breathing His Spirit, carrying His love, extending His redemption.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
How do you currently view your relationship to the world around you—as something to avoid, engage with cautiously, or transform actively?
In what specific places has God positioned you (work, neighborhood, relationships) where you might be His sent representative?
What would change in your daily routine if you truly believed you were "sent" into each space you occupy?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Jesus, thank You that You don't send us where You haven't already been. Thank You for modeling what it means to be fully present in a broken world while remaining fully Yours. Give me eyes to see my life as a mission—every conversation, every challenge, every ordinary moment as an opportunity to carry Your peace and presence. Breathe Your Spirit into me afresh and show me where You're sending me today. Amen.