by Howard Watson
Some people seem confused about the Christian mission. Jesus Christ
gave two main directives before His final ascent to be with His
Father. First, the general directive "to go" into all
the world and minister the Gospel to every creature, (Matt.28:18f).
Second, in Acts one He tells His disciple to "wait" for
enabling power for witnessing (Acts 1:4-8).
This mission to the world is to continue until the return of Christ.
Every Christian is to be part of the mission. We, each one by our
testimony and life, speak and demonstrate the presence of Christ
in words of truth and love, and by living in communion with God
our Father at all times. Every thought and motive in the Christian's
heart is tempered by the Holy Spirit's presence to bring glory and
honor to Jesus Christ in living testimony.
Sometimes the world about us misunderstands our mission and accuses
us of trying to forcibly press Christ or the Christian life upon
them. I had a man say:"you are trying to make people think
and behave just like yourself." Surely, this is not the mission
of the Church of our Lord, Jesus Christ. No! The mission of the
body of Christ is not to force our ways or Christ upon them. But,
rather to show to them the glory of living the "Christ"
life and to minister the words of opportunity for Christ to make
their lives new; by His powerful presence living in them through
their own personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (Col.1:27).
We Christians must face the fact that Satan will try to deceive
others about our work. But, he can't stop the truth of our lives
and of our commitment to Jesus Christ. Satan has always worked to
prevent the salvation message from reaching the world.
Nevertheless, we must not give in to his efforts to discourage us
and to cause us to falter. Pray for the whole body of Christ, as
we must continue "keeping on" in our main mission to the
world.
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