“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” Matthew 28:19.
When my grandmother was in the nursing home the final year of her life, she never changed the theme of her life: go and make. As long as I can remember, every place she went became her mission field. She didn’t wait on the sideline for some huge opportunity but instead took spiritual advantage of her daily walk, inviting all into a personal relationship with God. Even that last year, as young CNAs would enter her room, she would share the message of Christ with each one. As those workers came in to mop the floor or change the sheets, they walked on to her mission field with opportunity and privilege. No one was deemed unworthy of this message. My grandmother understood in her spiritual core that wherever she went the goal was the same: offer the good news to ‘all nations’ – to everyone she met.
"In the Greek language, go is an aorist participle, which means it takes on the mood of the command…It could more accurately be translated going. In other words, the command to make disciples should be accomplished while believers are going about their business." (Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted, p. 105.) The ultimate example of a believer going about His business was when our precious Savior was hanging on the cross. The criminal on the cross next to Him was hungry for the message. Jesus, in all His pain and suffering, still made a disciple of God that day. My grandmother, as she laid there going from clarity to confusion, still made daily disciples for God. "Evangelism is not something to do; it is a way to live" (p. 107). I have always said that Grandmother’s life was her ministry.
I was thinking about ways I could live today as a ‘go and make’ day. When going to get my grandson off the bus, I could share a story of Jesus from the Bible. When going to mail resources on grief to my friend whose son just died from a heroin overdose, I could remind her of the unfailing love and sustaining grace of God. When going to the grocery store, I could pattern patience with others as God has extended patience to me. Wherever we are going today, we carry the possibilities of a harvest in our mission field. Many times our lives are lived with an attitude of go and make excuses...go and make compromises... go and make your mark.
Oh Lord, let our days be filled with a 'go and make disciples' life.
