Two thousand years ago. Let's look at how the disciples reacted to Jesus's command. Look at what they did, look at what they gave up. Today we have cell phones and TV's and football games to go to like they never did, but is our God any different? Has the sacrifice that Jesus made changed meaning? Has the Lord's biggest command in the Bible changed? No. But it sure seems like we think it has.
In Luke 5, Jesus calls his first disciples. "And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him" (verse 10). They didn't just leave behind their boats and fishing nets, they left everything. So what does everything include? Not only their professions and possessions, but they left their families, their homes, their understanding, their desires, their ideas, and their expectations. In order to follow Jesus, they left their own lives behind without taking one look back and followed him.
So what's different today? Is our Lord different? No. Are our commands different? No. Are we different? Bingo. Instead of dropping everything and running towards Jesus, we try to figure things out on our own. We attempt to trust in our own abilities more than we do in the Creator of the universe. We tend to think that an episode of Netflix is much more important than reading the most romantic love letter we have from our sweet Father. We would rather talk with our friends than with the almighty King.
So is this really that big of a deal? Does it really make a difference if we hold onto a few things, miss a quiet time every once in a while, and don't pray every day? When the disciples made the decision to follow Jesus, they, without hesitation, gave up everything. They gave up futures that they had planned for themselves and they trusted in something they did not understand. Their expectations and dreams were shattered, but they kept going because they knew who the Messiah was and what He was capable of. They made their lives a tribute to following the Lord's commandments, the most important being the Great Commission.
"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" (Matthew 28:18-20).
There's two big things in this command. The first: Jesus tells us to spread His name among the nations. The second: Jesus, God, Lord, the Creator of the universe, is with us forever. Whoa.
The first part seems terrifying. We're commanded to do the uncomfortable, to bring up the topic of religion...with complete strangers. It doesn't say to spread the Gospel with your family and friends only, but with the nations. With people that we have never met, with people that speak a different language than us, with people that have completely different customs. The idea is definitely unnerving, so why is it important? We know why it's important, and sometimes we're too afraid to say it. Cut and dry, if no has ever heard the Gospel, they cannot be with God. They won't experience Him in their lifetime, nor ever, and the thought of that should drive us to leave everything behind just like His disciples and proclaim His name and Gospel from the tops of mountains. Scary stuff, I know.
But here's the second part. He is with us always. The one who has the power to raise people from the dead, to perform miracles and heal the sick, to feed thousands with hardly enough to feed a family of four. The one who created the entire universe and has authority over all of heaven and earth is with us. That drowns our fears. And that shouldn't be the only thing that does but the fact that your previously broken and shattered heart was healed; the fact that you are blessed with friends, material possessions, and family; the fact that we have a Father who loves us even in our times of greatest weakness; and the fact that the Lord has been faithful through all of our lives should be enough of a convincing motive to make us leave everything behind and shout His name every day.
What's holding you back? What grip does the devil have on you that's hard to let go? Will you let him distract you from obeying the Lord, or will you call on the Lord's power to make you strong enough to do the scariest, yet most obedient thing you've ever done?
Sure it's been almost 2,000 years. So, will we live for everything that has constantly changed over those years, or will we live for the one being in this world that is forever constant?
