I think about the World Race and I feel inadequate. I feel unprepared. I am totally scared, but I am ready. Here’s why:
The Gospel tells us in Matthew 28:18-20 that the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples were: “all authority on heaven an on earth has been given to me. Therefor 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 age”.
This scripture is not a suggestion. This is not a “if you have some free time in your busy schedules” kind of thing. This is a command straight from Jesus. And when I say by going on the World Race I am being obedient, that is exactly what I mean.
Think of the millions of people all across the world that have not had the chance to hear the gospel. How many people have not believed because they have not heard? They haven’t had a chance to have their lives radically transformed by Christ. That’s why I am leaving in October, I want to give those people the chance. I want them to know that they have the chance to enter into a life-changing relationship with their Perfect Savior. To explain to them that there is this undeserving, undeniable love of God waiting for them to fall into and embrace. So that they know that their mistakes, their shame, their sin, and their continuous shortcomings have all been paid for by Jesus the day that he laid down his life for each and every one us on the cross. I want them to be able to feel the love of God by the way I interact with them. I want them to experience the freedom that I experienced when I gave my life to Him. I want to give them the chance to have their life be transformed the way mine was. They deserve a chance. Putting your faith wholeheartedly in Him is a choice, and everyone deserves to have the opportunity to make that choice.
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a home where I knew that the choice was available to me from a very young age. I just chose the wrong choice for a very long time. But what about the sex-trafficking victim who sees no way out of the situation that she has found herself in? Who is there to tell her that her body was created as a temple for the Holy Spirit and that there is a beautiful chance of redemption through Jesus? What about the teenage boy who grew up beaten or abused and is living with the mindset that he will most likely end up just like his abuser- angry, hurt, and violent? Who is there to tell him that he doesn’t have to live in the footsteps of his abuser, but that he can choose to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? What about the sick and elderly who have battled a life-threatening disease or are close to the end of their life simply because of old age? Who is there to give them hope of eternal life with their Heavenly Father that they don’t even know of? Who is there to tell them that they have no reason to fear death because of God’s promises to believers in the gospel? What about the natural disaster victims who have lost everything and feel hopeless and alone? Who is there to tell them that their everything and the only thing that they will ever need is not of this world but He is waiting for them with arms wide open?
Your “all nations” might not look like my all nations. Your “them” might not be my them. Your mission field might not look like mine. Your all nations might involve your local community, your church, your classmates, or even a random stranger you meet on a street. But the point is that we as Christians should all find our own “all nations”. That doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. Neither is more righteous than the other. Neither is better in the eyes of the Father. Neither will earn a right standing with God. I’m going because they deserve it. I’m going because He saved me and they deserve the chance to be saved. I’m going because so many people made me a part of their all nations.
Someone made you a part of their “all nations” too. It might have been your church home. It might have been your parents, a small group leader, a friend who helped pull you out of the darkness, anyone. Whoever it was, they are a part of your story. And I have the chance to be a small part of someone else’s redemption story the way so many people were a part of mine. If you are like me, then you have been freed by the power of Jesus because someone else never gave up on you. It’s different for everyone, but I have a testimony to share because someone else (and in my case many people) followed God’s command to go and make disciples of all nations. They looked past the broken, ashamed, unworthy mess that I had become and continued to love me with a heart shaped by God. I can’t imagine where I would be. Truth be told, I would probably be dead. That might sound harsh but it is the bold and honest truth. I was headed down a path of complete self-destruction. But because of grace, I have been saved. Maybe your story looks a lot like mine and maybe it looks completely different, but either way you have had the chance to allow your life to be radically transformed whether you chose to embrace it or not.
“We are saved from our sins by a free gift of grace, something that only God can do in us and that we cannot manufacture ourselves. But that gift of grace involves the gift of a new heart. New desires. New longings. For the first time, we want God. We see our need for Him and we love Him. We seek after Him, and we find Him, and we discover that He is indeed the great reward for our salvation. We realize that we are saved not just to be forgiven of our sins or to be assured of our eternity in heaven, but we are saved to know God. So we yearn for Him. We want Him so much that we abandon everything else to experience Him. This is the only proper response to the revelation of God in the gospel. This is why men and women around the world risk their lives to know more about Him. This is why you and I cannot settle for anything less than a God-centered, Christ-exalting, self-denying gospel”. – Radical, by David Platt.
I was created for a purpose. That purpose is to live for Him and His Kingdom, everything else comes secondary. I have a new desire in my heart. I’m choosing a life of unfamiliar territory, a life that scares me to pieces because of the constant unknown, and a life that requires me to live in complete abandonment. But it’s a life that I’m choosing for my own “all nations” and for my “them”. I’m choosing that life because someone else chose it for me too in obedience to God.
Whether you agree with me or not, and whether you support me or not, nothing will change my mind. Nothing will stop me from going and being obedient to His command. My prayer is that everyone finds their own “all nations”. That everyone finds their “them”. And I pray that when you do find it, you have the strength and courage to pick up your Cross and follow Jesus for your “all nations”, no matter what that means giving up or no matter how terrified you are. I haven’t even left yet, but God’s already using them to change my heart and ultimately my whole life.
