Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for this daily challenge. It’s Thursday, the day we try to apply and live out what we’ve learned this week from the Bible. This week we’ve been studying how the Israelites were getting closer to the promised land, and Moses sent Caleb and some other spies to see what it would take for them to enter the land.  When Caleb summarized the facts by calling the Israelites to get up and take the land, the other spies sabotaged the whole thing by claiming there were ruthless giants there, and this was a lost cause.

Caleb never claimed it would be easy – he acknowledged there were fortified cities, strong people.  He was realistic.  He was confident, however, it was doable.  There was probably some pragmatism there, he’d seen firsthand what was waiting for them.  However, that probably wasn’t enough, and the others’ denial of that was certainly not enough for God to become enraged.  No, their reticence represented a loss of confidence in God, not the Israelite army.  They weren’t trusting that God was behind this plan, truly giving them the promised land, or going to follow through on the plan.

We can do this in many ways.  We can lose confidence in God’s plans and God’s sovereignty – that God is truly king over all things.

One of the most common ways Christians “chicken out” is when it comes to sharing their faith.  I don’t mean preaching on street corners, I mean even telling a neighbour or colleague you go to church, watch these videos, and so on.

We might have the best of intentions.  We might not want to seem pushy, bigoted, fanatical or any number of other negative traits.  Those are real practical concerns, but they can be dealt with, they’re not excuses to avoid the topic entirely.  The real problem isn’t that we want to show respect to others – the problem is when we don’t trust that God’s kingdom is truly wonderful, that others are truly invited, and that we have a role to play in inviting them.

We can be like these spies – charged with an important job in leading others to safety in God’s kingdom, but sabotaging ourselves at the last minute.

Challenge: Be brave in sharing your faith: Find a close friend or family member you can talk to about why you believe what you believe, or invite to form a challenge discussion group with you.