| Reference: Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotion
dailydevotionals@purposedrivenlife.com
2007/07/31
Your Commission
by Rick Warren
“Jesus said to his followers, ‘Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone.’” Mark 16:15 (NCV)
Rick Warren joins us for the next few days –
The Great Commission is your commission, and that means you have a critical choice to make: You will be either a world-class Christian or a worldly Christian.
Worldly Christians look to God primarily for personal fulfillment. They are saved, but self-centered. They attend concerts and enrichment seminars, but you’ll rarely find them at a missions conference because they aren’t interested. Their prayers focus on their own needs, blessings, and happiness. It’s a “me-first” faith: How can God make my life more comfortable? They want to use God for their purposes -- instead of being used for his purposes.
World-class Christians, in contrast, know they’re saved to serve and made for a mission. They’re eager to receive a personal assignment and excited about the privilege of being used by God. World-class Christians are the only fully alive people on the planet. Their joy, confidence, and enthusiasm are contagious because they know they’re making a difference. They wake up each morning expecting God to work through them in fresh ways.
Which type of Christian do you want to be?
God invites you to participate in the greatest, largest, most diverse, and most significant cause in history—his kingdom. History is his story. He’s building his family for eternity. Nothing matters more, and nothing will last as long.
From the book of Revelation we know that God’s global mission will be accomplished. Someday the Great Commission will be the Great Completion. In heaven an enormous crowd of people from “every race, tribe, nation, and language” (Revelation 7:9 – CEV) will one day stand before Jesus Christ to worship him. Getting involved as a world-class Christian will allow you to experience a little of what heaven will be like in advance.
When Jesus told his followers to “go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone,” that small band of poor, Middle Eastern disciples were overwhelmed. Were they supposed to walk or ride slow animals? That’s all they had for transportation, and there were no ocean-crossing ships, so there were real physical barriers to going to the whole world.
Today we have airplanes, ships, trains, buses, and automobiles. It’s a small world after all, and it’s shrinking daily. You can fly across the ocean in a matter of hours and be home the next day if you need to be. The opportunities for normal, everyday Christians to become involved in short-term international missions are now literally limitless. Every corner of the world is available to you—just ask the travel industry. We have no excuse not to spread the Good News.
Now, with the Internet, the world has gotten even smaller. In addition to phones and faxes, any believer with Internet access can personally communicate with people in virtually every country on earth. The whole world is at your fingertips!
Even many remote villages get email, so you can now carry on “e-vangelistic” conversations with people on the other side of the world, without even leaving your home! It’s never been easier in history to fulfill your commission to go to the whole world.
So what?
· Assess yourself -- Based on where you’re at today, how would you assess yourself?
___ My behaviors, thoughts and prayers seem to indicate I want to use God for my own purposes.
___ My behaviors, thoughts and prayers seem to indicate I want to be used for God’s purposes.
· Truth Statements -- Check where you agree –
___ I am saved to serve God for his purposes.
___ I was created to fulfill a mission.
___ I am making a difference in this world.
___ The Great Commission is my commission.
· Pray through your unbelief -- If you do not agree with any of the four statements above, ask God to help you in your unbelief.
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