One of the smallest
words in the English language is one of the most influential words Jesus
used. It is the simple word Go.
We find Him using it intensity and almost exclusively after His
resurrection. It is the word He used to
help Mary Magdalene realize her real purpose in their garden conversation. In that one small word, He eradicated the
wrong notions that she needed to prepare His body properly for burial or that
she should cling to Him. Rather, her
mission was to go and tell the
disciples that He was alive and would ascend to their Father. We each have a similar purpose to go and tell
others that God is their Father through faith in Jesus
Christ.
I have been a part of a
Go Team at my church. A Go
Team is a group of people who come around an individual, couple or family
who has been called to missionary service.
This is such a fitting name for a group whose purpose is sending
missionaries into foreign lands to preach the gospel. In truth, every believer has a Go Team. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit are our Go Team. They send us to do their work in the foreign
land of earth. Therefore, it is go time
for every one of us.
Mary went from shock to
confusion to belief on the first Easter Sunday morning. In the end, she received and followed her
mission to GO when she listened and obeyed Jesus when He said: Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father. Go
instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God (John 20:17).
Mary completed her mission.
She went to the brothers and told them that she had seen Jesus and that
He spoke to her, but they didn’t believe her.
We need to keep this in mind as we go.
The people God sends us to will not always believe us. God doesn’t hold us accountable for how many
people believe but rather how obedient we are to go when He tells us to
go.
Do you know where you
are sent? Are you following your go
orders? Jesus sends us to unique places
and people. We can’t find out our own go
orders by copying someone else’s life.
We each have personal go
orders that come from the mind of God Himself.
Henri Nouwen said, One of the most
important spiritual disciplines is to develop the knowledge that the years of
our lives are years on a mission. You cannot follow Jesus if you are not going
somewhere. You are asked to go for
Him.
Jesus
gives us the perfect example of our coming and going. His whole life could be seen as going to
Jerusalem to suffer many things. That
was His one main mission here on earth.
Along the way He went to many different places and asked those who
received His message to go as well. He
also modeled coming home. When you are
sent on a mission and you go and give yourself completely, there will be a time
that you need to come back home and receive the encouragement and strength you
need to go out again. Coming and going
is a constant experience of the spiritual life.
Take
some time to think of where you have been sent. What was the result of that
mission? Does your Go Team have a new mission for you?
Know
this, if your soul is linked to Christ, you will recognize a call to go and your
intimacy with Him will become stronger as you obey His call to go no matter the
outcome of your mission. Like Jesus, I
hope you live your whole life on earth as if you are going.
That is until you receive your final go orders and go to heaven, your
true home.
Copyright © 2012. Deborah R.
Newman. All Rights
Reserved.
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