Across The Table

My college group that I go to on Sunday nights just launched a new series called "We're All Arrows." I remember when this group just started last semester and there were maybe fifteen to twenty people that came. As I sat in my seat last night, I looked around and I saw the growth that had taken place; it seemed like every seat was taken and there were rows of people I had never met before.

We were taught the idea that we are being sent out to carry the name of Jesus Christ with us as we go. When we think of missions, we immediately think of the farthest places in the world and how we need to bring the gospel to the unreached people. But then we were reminded of how every single day, there are people right next to us who don't know the real Jesus Christ.

If you carry the name of something, you represent the essential being of that name. Christians are carrying the name of Jesus Christ. We need to remember what we are carrying with us as well as where we are going. And we are showing the name of Jesus: the power, salvation, love, peace, refuge, healing, redemption, hope, and strength that comes with the Name we show.

Don't you think the Lord is inviting us into His vision to change the world one person at a time? You don't have to go across the states or across the country to show Jesus to someone. You only have to look across the table, across the room, across the store, or even across the road to bring the light of Jesus into someone's life.

The challenge I received after hearing this message is to not be so focused on the future that I forget my present. I can show people right now the hope that is in me. I don't need to wait until I graduate or until I have a career to carry the name of Jesus because we already carry that holy, wonderful name as soon as we decide to follow Him.

Isn't it great that we can look across the table into the eyes of the lost and bring Jesus's saving power into their life?

Praise God for the people across the table.