Here we go again. Almost 4 years ago we sat in this same airport, destination Maui, Hawaii. Void of jobs, a house, cars, most possessions and armed only with the bags that sit at our feet. I find myself in the same situation, only this time a different destination. The feeling is that of excitement, freedom, exhilaration and trepidation. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am sitting exactly where God wants me to be, the countless little God winks that put is here is apparent enough to make that crystal clear to us. But yet I just can’t seem to shake this human thing that’s going on within me. As much as I try to rise above it, those persistent human emotions continue to plague me. You see, recklessly following God is against human nature. Our human side craves comfort, simplicity and ease of life. But yet the great commission of Jesus Christ has one verb in it that will upturn all of our human desires. Two letters that create a verb. A verb that defines the life that chases Christ. Go.
To go is to simply move from one place to another. To leave, to visit, to depart. A verb that requires action. To go, well, means to go. I often think about the central figures that I have come to love in God’s Word and how they lived the great commission before it parted the lips of Jesus. Moses was constantly in motion, never seeming to stop. Jacob was always a man on the move. Joseph went and lived in an entirely different country. Noah went by boat, Jonah went by fish, and Peter even traveled a short distance on the water. As Jesus recruited his disciples, He immediately prepared them for a life on the move. A life of going. After Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, the call of the Holy Spirit led him all over the known world of his day. It is estimated that Paul walked around 100,000 miles on his missionary journeys. That’s a lot of going. Jesus says, is you’re going to serve me, you’ve got to be ready to go.
I often field questions about just this topic, going for God. As a missionary that is always ready to go and move, the idea becomes one that it’s not just the going but the distance traveled. That somehow if you travel to Borneo to serve God that you get bonus points. That if you go to the South Pole and minister to the penguins, that the greater distance will have God smiling just a little wider than if you only went to India. Folks, God doesn’t work on frequent flyer miles. One of the biggest misconceptions about the great commission is that it somehow revolves around distance. To go simply means to go. How far you go simply depends on where God asks you to go.
There are people all over the world that need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. There are people all over your city, state and county that need to know that they can have a home in Heaven. And folks, to reach these people, Christ followers have to go. I have a question for you. Do you think that there are people on your very street that need to see and hear the love of Jesus in their life? Who will go? You see, for you it is only a mere short walk to share that love. But the same question posits, will you go?
My experience has been that God will start small. He will motivate you through His Holy Spirit to go across the street and simply do something good for a neighbor in need. As you follow Him in obedience, He will open the opportunity for you to speak of Him. It will be easy, and it will be natural. Soon you will see your neighborhood ministry grow. As a result, God might have you get involved in a city wide ministry with more exposure and the opportunity to bear more fruit. From there God might have you go on a domestic mission trip. Just look around at our nation today, there is a huge need for the love of Jesus Christ just here in America. Maybe after that He will offer you the opportunity to engage in an international mission trip. Maybe through your local church He will offer you the ability to share His love with people in India, Africa, Europe, Asia, Russia or South America. And folks, somewhere along the journey, God will speak. He will reveal. He will reveal Himself and His Will and His love for the people of this world to you. And it is in this revealing of His heart that transformation happens. As you go therefore and share the love of Jesus with the world, He will allow you to see lives touched...lives changed...lives transformed. And all because He said go…and you went.
Folks, today, I pray you go. It might be across the street to pull in an elderly neighbor’s trash cans. It might be across town to be a mentor in a kids reading program. It might be to another state to assist in disaster clean up. It might be to one of the US coasts to assist a new church that is starting. And as you continue to go for God you might end up in South America digging wells for unreached people groups. You might end up in Asia teaching English to students that have never heard the name of Jesus. As for Margie and me, we’ll be in Mexico the next 60 days then back to the US for a few months for training. After that we’re off to Puebla, Mexico for one year of Spanish immersion language school. After language school we’ll be based in either San Jose, Costa Rica, Panama City, Panama or Oaxaca, Mexico. We are so blessed that our missionary task will be loving and teaching young lives what it means to go for God.
Friends, as you gain and build the courage, strength, and bravery to continue to grow in your ability to go for God, there is one thing that always amazes me. If you simply give God your yes, He will take you to some amazing places all around His wondrous world. And He will use you in ways that you could never imagine.
God needs people to go somewhere today. Step out in faith and put your yes on the table. My flight is about to board, time to…go.
“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.” Matthew 28:19-20
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