By Robin Sam
GREETINGS to you in the Name of Jesus Christ who gave us this wonderful and comforting promise in Matthew 28:20 “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”.
This promise flows out of a command, what we call as the Great Commission. Though this promise was given primarily to His followers who had assembled at Galilee 2000 years ago to see the risen Lord, it is applicable to us even today. What the Lord was telling them then and is telling us now is this: When you decide to walk and work for me, you would not go alone or be helpless for My presence will comfort you.
A child of God will always have the company of the Son of God and the indwelling of His Spirit. Why am I saying this? Because when you decide to walk and work for the Master, there will come moments of despair when everything around you will seem to be bleak and utterly hopeless – but it is in moments such as those that we need to remind ourselves that there is a Lord who will turn our mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11).
The presence of the Lord and the guidance of His Spirit is great comfort. Remember this great comfort follows the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19. The Great Commission is not a helpful suggestion but a strong command for us to follow. By preaching the Gospel, we are to strive to win everyone for Christ. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations’ The point to remember is going comes before making. You need to be ready to go! Go where? Go where the Spirit of the Lord tells you to. Not all of us are called to be missionaries, but remember you are responsible for your street, colony, village and town. It may not be possible for us to impact everyone for Christ but it is possible to pray for those around us, share an encouraging word with them, help them in their distress and point them to the inextinguishable Light of the world – Jesus Christ.
Most of the time, however, we do not do this. Some years ago, I met a man who is active in his church and prayer group. He had come to the railway station to receive his wife while I was there to receive my father who was returning from a trip to Kerala. He knew I was into missions and hence the conversation veered to evangelism. Midway through our talk, he dropped a bombshell. He said: “We have a maid at home. She is from a remote village in Tamil Nadu. We don’t thrust our faith on her. We follow our religion and she is happy to follow hers.” This man who was in his late sixties, who had been active in church administration as a layman for a good part of his life had simply not understood the basis of the Great Commission. He thought sharing the Gospel is akin to thrusting one’s faith on another.
Sadly, there are numerous such pulpit-lovers around us. They are regular at church, tithe often, vie with one another to host their pastors at home but would never open their mouth to share a word about Jesus to another. Isn’t that sad?
The writer is the editor of The Christian Messenger magazines in English and Tamil. He can be reached at editor [at] christianmessenger [dot] in
