Obeying the OTHER Commandment...

A few years ago, I was flying back from a business trip to southern Florida. It was a wonderful day; overcast with those big fluffy clouds that always look like something to those with vivid imaginations. Looking out my window as were passing along the coast, suddenly I see the Space Shuttle come bursting through the clouds as it rockets toward the heavens. It nearly took my breath away in its magnificence as it hurled itself toward the confines of an immeasurable blackness known as space. I followed its path as I watched the flames of the rockets pushing it higher and higher and I thought to myself that those rockets were built for one purpose….to quote Captain James Kirk,
“To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

And that brings me to the second commandment of which I spoke yesterday.

Christ has been crucified and now raised from the dead; He stands before His disciples and issues his last command in Matthew 28:18-20…his final parting words before He ascends to His Father; Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

And there it is ….in one imperative commandment….GO!

Go and make disciples; go and baptize; go and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you to do…..Go and show my love to the lost and hurting in a lost and hopeless world. But for all too many of us that call ourselves disciples of Christ, we fail to heed this simple commandment…GO!

We would rather stay put and be part of the establishment…the church, the choir, the Sunday school or the ones that give little yet expect much from others. We can’t be called from our comfort zone or expected to sacrifice….that’s just not who we are! Somehow we have gotten it into our minds that we are not built like a rocket with one specific function….to GO where no man has gone before.

Now I’m not trying to say that we all must sign up for the foreign mission field…but somebody must! We don’t all have to knock on doors and invite total strangers to church….but somebody must! We don’t all have to work at the homeless shelter on the weekend…but somebody must! For if we are to be faithful to our Savior, then we need to be obedient to His commands to LOVE and to GO…..and the order in which we do this probably matters least.

It would be nice if we all were so filled with His love that we could not contain ourselves in seeking to show and to demonstrate that love…to love so much that we can’t help but GO and look for ways to love. But if you struggle with being filled with the love of Christ, then I challenge you to GO and let love find you in the act of doing, caring and loving in the name of Christ. Just the act of GO..ing might be all that is needed to stir your heart and let love propel you into service for the Savior.

Christ told his disciples to love as He had loved them and demonstrated throughout his solitary life...He commanded them to be willing to go and to serve. If you want to be obedient to Christ then your life’s mission is simple…follow his two commandments to LOVE and to GO….all else will fall right into place.

Seeking to GO where the Savior leads,

WPQ

Poem for the day:

We should follow Christ’s example
With everyone we meet…
We should seek to show the Savior’s love
For we are His hands and feet.

For Christ would have us working
To care for those distraught;
To go and serve in loving ways
Is what our Savior taught.

WPQ@ February 2011