Monday, October 24, 2011

Go and make disciples of all nations...

I woke up this morning with a passage stuck in my mind, quite similar to how songs become stuck:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them all I have commanded (paraphrased in my brain from Matthew 28:19).

It was just there.  From the moment I was awake I heard those words.  It isn't out of the blue; the Great Commission was the theme from our WOW (Women of Worship) Beach Retreat.  But it was a command that I heard loud and clear for my day today.

I have been caught up in this dream of moving far away for long term mission work.  I have been itching for an adventure, some giant calling on my life.  I know that God has a great plan and that if I desire to work as a foreign missionary, then someday I will have the opportunity.  But I am also beginning to understand that dream may not be accomplished today.  Today he may have other plans to prepare my heart and my life for what is to come.  And so while I wait, it doesn't mean that the mission field has to wait.  There is a need in my own community and each day is a call to help and serve others.

I realize it is easier for me to dream of moving to Africa to serve rather than walk down to the Christian Mission.  Serving others is outside of my comfort zone and in Africa you just expect to be outside of that zone.  Here at home, it is far easier for me to become complacent and retreat to the comfort of my home and ignore the needs around me.  It is challenging for me to want to move.  But as God continues to shape my heart I am convicted that moving right here is what I am called to do right now.  When God commands us to make disciples of all nations, He even meant America, not just nations far away from me. 

From the retreat this weekend I took home this:

Christ has...
     No body on earth but yours,
     No hands but yours,
     No feet but yours.


Yours are the eyes...
     Through which His compassion will look upon the world.


Yours are the feet...
      With which He will go about doing good.

Yours are the hands...
      With which He will bless others now.

I am convicted by my disobedience to serve others each and every day of my life.  I get these big dreams of Africa and can't see past my own nose.  There is much work to be done, even right here.  Today my focus will be to glorify God in everything I do.  In every interaction and task that I take on.  And today I will make an effort to better serve God's kingdom in my own community.  I have a plan to get further connected to the Christian Mission and to allow God to mold my heart to love the people around me more and more. 

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