Aug 25, 2020
John 20:20-22
God is a missionary God. To be a follower of Jesus is to continue in God’s mission in loving the world. The resurrection is not an individual and private religious experience. It is a corporate reality that involves a mission to the world. To be sent by God into the world is an extension of God’s sending of Jesus. As Jesus followers, we are incorporated into God’s mission. Just as Jesus was sent, we are sent as part of God’s mission.
As a missionary God, God not only sends us but God comes to us. Here is another reference to “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God has come to us in love. And just as God has come to us, we go, sent by God, filled with God’s love, to love one another, to love our neighbors, to love our enemies, to love as God has loved us. This is our mission.
So, God’s mission is not at our initiative. It is not at the initiative of the church or at the approval of Jesus followers. It is not even carried out in our own power and insight. Because it is God’s mission, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit that guides and energizes us. Because it is God’s mission, we are filled with God’s love to the point that we love as Jesus loved. If you believe that God is a healing, feeding, caring, serving, dying God, then that is your mission. That is how you will live your everyday life.
Today, how will you introduce and invite the people around you, with whom you interact, to become Jesus followers?
Consider making an intentional shift from thinking about being a Christian, as a program to be accepted, to living as a person who reflects God’s love through acts of care and kindness. Be a person of grace. Live today in such a way that the people around you want to be like you.
At the end of the day, reflect upon the scripture and your interactions of the day.
O God, thank you for all the people you put into my life today. And thank you for giving me opportunities to share your love with care and kindness. I am especially grateful that you are helping me become more who you created me to be in and through the people you are giving me to love. Help me focus my eyes more upon Jesus, so I may recognize you more often in the people I meet along the way. Amen.