How would you feel if you knew that you were going to meet God face-to-face? We all claim to love God, but the thought makes many of us nervous and fearful. After all, God is infinite and perfect, and we so limited and human. Besides, we have been fed with too many negative and scary images of God. But the author of Hebrews assures us that God is not as we think. In fact, that was part of the mission of Jesus. He revealed to us God as He really is. In God there is no darkness, violence, hate, or punishment. God is love, pure and simple, and love will never harm us. But we need to do a lot of housecleaning, getting rid of all the negative baggage and beginning to think of God as a friend.

The followers of Jesus are sent out with the command to travel lightly. Anyone who has ever struggled with too much luggage on a trip will appreciate the advice. There was a reason for this command: he wanted them to rely completely on God, who would ensure that their needs would be met. They had important work to do: preaching and casting out demons, and they needed to focus all their energies on that mission. It is so easy to become unfocused and distracted. We actually need very little - the grace and power of God is more than enough, and the more we rely on God the more effective we will be.