Sunday Thoughts - 'HEY LOOK!'

Sunday Worship preached from Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus' Great Commission to all His disciples then and now. I think about how I would be, standing there with the risen Jesus, and He tells me, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the 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."

The verses are a double edged sword to me, it comforts me and it fears me. Jesus tells me something direct, not as some parable, but as a command. Its commanding me to go to all peoples proclaiming the gospel, so that they may be followers of Jesus Christ through baptism and through the learning, understanding, and application of what Jesus has already commanded.

Wondering about what Jesus has commanded, these words come to mind, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17) and "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40).

Honestly, this is where fear creeps in, "How can I even think about making 'disciples' when I can't even live out what Jesus has commanded me? Doesn't Jesus know I can't live them out? Doesn't he know that I am inadequate at best? This is just way too much responsibility!"

So that was the struggle I was going through, pondering these verses this morning. And as I was beginning to feel a bit hopeless, feeling like a 'bad Christian', a failure, I kept on reading. Jesus words, 'And behold', lit up like a spotlight into my soul. Some other words for 'behold' are: gaze, perceive, see, give attention to. In Old English it would mean 'to keep'. In the Greek text, it would mean something like 'HEY LOOK!'

So, 'HEY LOOK!', Jesus will be with me FOREVER. Why is this the very last part of the Great Commission? For me, its really important. Being a Christian is pretty hard, living out the expectations of the Great Commissions can be even harder. But this is my only comfort and I believe the most important part of a Christian's life; 'BEHOLD JESUS!' Look at Jesus. Gaze at Jesus. For what? Because in Him, it is fulfilled. In Him, there is no fear. In Him, I am not my own, and so much more.

I can't help, but feel that my inadequacies in my life are caused simply by the fact that I am not looking at Jesus, at what He has done, at what He is doing, and what he will do. May God give me the spiritual and physical eyes to see Him. When I am doing that correctly, perhaps the Great Commission will not be another command to write onto my legalistic tendencies, but as I look at Jesus, behold Jesus, my life will be changed and I will be more and more a part of Jesus' Great Commission.

(Click on Gaze to read a great chapter in Tozer's Pursuit of God)