READ: COLOSSIANS 3:1-3, 16-17

Few Christians throughout history have taken Jesus’s call to drop everything and follow Him as literally as St. Francis of Assisi. His faithful service to God was so influential that his way of living is still followed by one order of monks, the Franciscans, almost 800 years after his death.

St. Francis was born in Italy around 1181 AD. The son of a wealthy merchant, Francis did not know God as a teen. He threw wild parties and dreamed of becoming a famous, wealthy knight. But, in his very first war, he was taken captive and was imprisoned for a year—where he started hearing God’s voice.

God spoke to Francis several times. Everything finally clicked for Francis when he was praying in a broken-down church, and he believed he heard God say, “Francis, repair My church.” At the time, Francis thought God meant the building around him, so he stole some cloth from his father, sold it (along with his horse), and tried to use the money to fix the church. His father sued him, so Francis gave his father the money and the clothes off his back, and then he gave up his inheritance. He walked away in rough clothes given to him by a priest and dedicated his life to living like Jesus.

But why would Francis do this? Because of the gospel—or good news—of Jesus Christ. Because of God’s great love, Jesus died and rose again so that all who trust in Him could become God’s children. With His life, He purchased our freedom from sin and death. Since Francis knew that love and freedom, he could not stop telling others about it. For him, that involved living a life of voluntary poverty and caring for the poor, all while preaching God’s Word. And, because many church leaders at the time were obsessed with wealth, Francis even refused money in an effort to make the good news of Jesus clearer to those he ministered to. Instead, he worked for food and slept on the street, focusing his efforts on sharing the gospel and tending to creation.

St. Francis recognized that Jesus loves His people with a crazy love, and he wanted to share that love with everyone he met. His methods may have been wild and sometimes too extreme, yet God worked through him powerfully to spread the good news of Jesus. • Taylor Eising

• In your own life, what opportunities has God given you to spread the good news of Jesus?

• How does caring for people who are poor and for creation show Jesus’s love?

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 (NLT)