Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”- Matthew 28:16-20
There's this hidden little nugget in who Jesus gave the Great Commission to... did you catch it? Read it again.... did you catch it this time?
"they worshiped him... but some doubted."
Jesus, the perfect Savior, entrusts the gospel to doubtless believers AND believers with doubt. He doesn't pull the ones who doubted aside and say, "ok, you guys just wait around until you stop doubting" or "your doubt disqualifies you from participating in my mission." NO! Jesus tells even those who doubt to go out and make disciples, baptize, and teach people to follow Jesus.
There is this beautiful thing that happens when we get off of our butts and obey Jesus - we begin to understand and our hearts get changed. You don't need to be a Bible scholar or Theology professor to tell the world about Jesus. You don't need to have all of your own garbage figured out. You don't need to reach some "knowledge" peak or achieve "maximum spirituality" to tell people about Jesus. NO! You simply need to know Jesus as your Savior! Today, get off your butt and go out into the world! With all of your doubts; with all of your garbage; with all of your imperfection... GO!
Shovel a driveway. Comfort a hurting friend. Send an ecouraging Bible verse to someone. Call your Christian brother or sister out of their sin. Stand up for the weak. Help the poor. Celebrate the accomplishment of a family member. Tell someone about what Jesus has done in your life. Pray for your enemy. Invite a new person to your house for dinner. JUST GO!
Let Jesus work through you and change others. Who knows, you might just get changed yourself.
One of my favorite childhood memories was something my dad would say to my brother and I when we were really young. We'd be watching TV and my dad would ask for one of us to take out the garbage or help him with something. My brother and I would look at each other and pretend like we didn't hear him. Then my dad would say just loud enough so we could hear him, "Alright, then you're not going."
We'd both shoot up and start whining, "NO! We wanna go! We wanna go! We'll do anything, just let us go." Then we would go and do whatever he asked us. The geniusness of this was that we weren't ever actually going anywhere to begin with, but the idea of not going somewhere that we could have was enough to get our butts in gear.
As a young boy all I wanted to do was hang out with my dad. If he was going fishing - I wanted to go with. If he was going bowling - I wanted to go with. If he was going to fill the car up with gas - I wanted to go with! It didn't matter where my dad was going, I just wanted to go with.
But as I got older I found myself wanting to do more things on my own and slowly stopped wanting to do everything that my dad was doing. When I was around 9 years old "then you're not going" stopped having any impact on me.
I think this is what most Christians end up doing. We meet Jesus and fall in love with our Heavenly Father. All we want is to go where our Heavenly Father is going and hang out with him. But as we "mature" in our faith and start understanding the ropes of Christianity we slowly stop feeling the need to hang out with our Father and start thinking that we can do everything on our own.
I think Jesus understood this. He was always talking to the Father and teaching others to talk to him too. He was always hanging out with his Daddy and leading others to do the same. I mean think of all the times that he does this: - Teaching his disciples to pray by addressing God as 'Father'. - Going off to lonely places to be alone with his Father. - Telling his followers to have faith like a child (aka: a child with a perfect Father) - On the cross, asking his Father to forgive those crucifying him.
So, how's your relationship with your Heavenly Father? Distant? Fearful? Non-existent? Child-like?
Your Father is looking to love you perfectly. Go and hang out with him today.
Twas the night after Christmas, after meat and egg nog not a creature was stirring, not even Partick our dog.
When all of the sudden, as if stabbed in the night, my gut became rotten, And I panicked looked for the light.
Sprinting to the bathroom, banging my knee on the door, Christmas dinner hurled into the toilet then I curled up on the floor.
I love holidays because of the family and friends, but if I am completely honest, I think I get even more excited about the food. Turkey and rumakie for Thanksgiving. Meatballs and meat and cheese platters over Christmas. Jello eggs and lefse for Easter... my mouth starts to water just thinking about the holidays.
But, like many other people this year, I came down with the flu the night after Christmas and spent the whole next day just wanting to die. All day my 2 best friends were my pillow and the toilet. One of the most satisfying sounds that day was the sound of the toilet flushing because that ment it would be at least another hour before I started to feel sick again.
Yes, the beautiful sound of the toilet flushing as Christmas dinner (and late night instant mashed potatoes) was washed away. That day the sound of flushing toilet was like seeing the heavens split open and hearing the angels singing - it was glorious.
My dog, Patrick, also got sick for the first time last week. We had just pulled up to our friend's house for dinner and as soon as Patrick hopped out of the car he hurled in their front yard (I was just thankful he waited until after he got out of my car). I felt really bad for the poor little guy... that is until he started eating what he just threw up.
I've seen other dogs do that before - eat their own puke - but I never thought that MY dog would be one of those dogs. My dog is so cute, and fluffy, and friendly, and fun... and now apparently he likes to eat vomit. GROSS!
I understand what the writter of Proverbs was now getting at when he wrote: Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. - Proverbs 26:11
Sin is one of those things that I constantly find myself making excuses for. I know it's not good for me, yet there are certain things I just can't stop going back to... I'm like a dog that returns to eat the very thing that just made him sick. We all are like this at times.
What is your vomit? What is the sin that you are currently going back to? A boyfriend or girlfriend, hurtful words towards a parent, bitterness towards someone who hurt you, websites you shouldn't be looking at, procrastination or laziness... What is it?
This concept of our sin being like vomit is perfect for so many reasons: 1. Our bodies response to sickness is to THROW IT UP and get it out of ourselves. It is something that shouldn't be in us. Sin is the same way; our response needs to be to get it out of us. 2. Anyone who has ever vomited before knows that whatever you are throwing up always tested better going down. Sin almost always "tastes good" at first, but just like vomit, it leaves a bad taste in our mouth afterwards. 3. The process of throwing up never feels good while its happening, but after it's all out you feel 100x better! Repenting of sin doesn't feel good - admitting your faults isn't a fun thing to do, but the freedom and forgiveness that follows allows us to live 100x better!
I challenge you with 3 things today: 1. Identify what your vomit is (It probably isn't going be too hard to point out something that is making you feel sick). 2. Repent of that vomit (ask Jesus for forgiveness, make amends with people you hurt in the process). 3. Flush the vomit (do whatever it takes to make it impossible to go back to that vomit again).
I have always been a fan of horror movies. Friday the 13th, Chucky, The Ring, Paranormal Activity... those are my kind of movies! I love the suspense and how you just can't help but have your heart race to the point where you feel like it's going to burst right out of your chest as you wait for the monster to jump out and scare you.
But, for being a fan of horror movies, I ironically do not like haunted houses. I like the idea of watching scaring things happen around me as long as I have my TV as a buffer, but when it comes to walking around and having the monsters be able to jump out and touch you... that's just too much for me.
I remember my first haunted house as a little kid. I walked into the scary run-down house that smelled like musty gym socks with my dad and brother. It was so dark inside that I couldn't see my hand in front of my face (or maybe my hands were just covering my eyes... i can't remember). I was holding onto my dad's hand as he felt his way through the narrow hallways and led us into the darkness of the house.
Up ahead I could hear loud noises and people screaming whenever a light would flash. As we walked closer to where the screams had come from the lights suddenly stopped flashing. My heart was starting to race a little as we walked further into the pitch black and into the room where the screaming had come from...
All of the sudden the sound of chainsaws and electricity exploded into the room at deafening levels, and people started screaming right next to us to try and scare us, but the lights remained off. Something got goofed up in their lighting so that they didn't turn on when the sounds began. My heart started to slow down as I thought to myself, "This isn't scary, it's just dark."
Then, like a burst of lightning, a strobe light kicked on and a man with a chainsaw jumped out. Then another strobe light kicked on so we could see a man sitting in a chair (poorly made to look like an electrical-chair) screaming and shaking. I immediately clenched onto my dad's hand and hid behind his leg.
It wasn't until the lights started shining that I became aware of what was happening in that room and saw the monsters... Without the lights, I could ignore the scary things and pretend like they weren't there.
“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Luke 8:16-18
I always thought that when Jesus said this he was talking about being a "light" to people who don't know Jesus (aka: evangelism). Although I think that is part of what this implies, it's not the whole thing.
As a Christian, I way too often believe the lie that I am the light and have to shine on other people... but the truth is, I am not the light at all - Jesus is. Also, as a Christian, I all too quickly find myself trying to shine light in other people's darkness and don't let people shine light in my own darkness.
I am comfortable ignoring my flaws and keeping my inner monsters hidden from other people. When I am forced to look at them and face them... it doesn't feel good; it's scary; it hurts. And more than anything, when my dark areas are called out and brought into the light, I feel like I am now at the mercy and judgement of the people who see me.
But a beautiful thing happens when we bring our monsters into the light... we get to see them for what they truly are. We get to see how fake they are and how absolutely rediculous they look. We get to see how un-scary the are, and if we let other people shine light on our monsters we get to have people who will hold our hand and help lead us away from the darkness that the monsters like to hide.
When we let the light of Jesus pierce our darkness through Scripture, Christian friends, Small Groups, etc. we begin to find that the monsters we have been ignoring or have kept secret are not something to be afraid of or hide from... they are things to be revealed and removed so that Jesus can shine a little brighter in our lives.
Four questions for you to answer and act on: 1. What areas of your life have you kept in darkness? 2. What are the monsters you are afraid to face? 3. Who do you need to ask to shine some light on your life? 4. What excuses are you making right now to not let others shine light into your darkness?
Jesus, the perfect Savior, entrusts the gospel to doubtless believers AND believers with doubt. He doesn't pull the ones who doubted aside and say, "ok, you guys just wait around until you stop doubting" or "your doubt disqualifies you from participating in my mission." NO! Jesus tells even those who doubt to go out and make disciples, baptize, and teach people to follow Jesus.
