The only way to the Father is through the son. The childlike receive this truth, and the self-sufficient walk right past it.Snapshot: Now Jesus himself rejoices. Luke tells us he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and he thanks the Father for hiding these things from the wise and revealing them to little children. Then comes verse 22, one of the highest things Jesus ever says about himself. No one knows the Father except the Son, and the ones the Son chooses to show him to. There is no side door to God. No back way in through cleverness, or effort, or religion. The Son alone opens the Father to us, and he loves to do it for people who come with empty hands. That’s the invitation, and it’s wide open. Come like a child. Take what only the Son can give. Trade your self-sufficiency, the spiritual kind and the intellectual kind, for a child’s open hands, and let plain gratitude for knowing God reorder your life.

Fix Your Joy (Kirk Giles) | Set Your Sights

Jesus lifts our eyes to a field that’s ready and sends ordinary followers into it as his representatives.

Snapshot: Jesus lifts the disciples’ eyes and points them at a field. The harvest is plentiful, he says, but the workers are few, so beg the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. Then he makes them the answer to their own prayer. He sends out seventy two of his follower, two by two, ahead of him into every town he is about to enter. Travelling light. Lambs among wolves. Eyes on the harvest, not on their own comfort or safety. The mission we’ve been given isn’t a mission that’s best left for the professionals. It’s ordinary disciples carrying his peace and his kingdom onto a real street. Don’t skip the woes in verses 13 to 16. The same gospel that brings peace to one house hardens the next, and to hear these messengers is to hear Christ himself. The Sender is the Lord of the harvest, and the message is his own presence drawing near. The gospel is the peace he holds out to every house that will receive him.