Your Corner of the World

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"

-- Matthew 28:18-20

Though Jesus' disciples had been following him for several years at this point, there were clearly many things they had not yet learned. Still, Jesus sent them out, entrusting to this motley group the most important message in all the world. They were to live this message and to spread it so thoroughly that the whole globe would come to know the hope of Christ. An impossibly large, impossibly difficult task, it would have seemed.

Yet here we are, two thousand years later, with the same message and the same privilege and responsibility of making disciples. What does this command mean? Disciples are simply people who follow Jesus; therefore we are to walk with others, following Christ together, and serving as guides for those who are not yet familiar with the way.

D. Michael Hendersen writes in his book One Conversation at a Time, "When Jesus said, 'Go into all the world and make disciples,' He meant the corner of the world you live in. Establish God's kingdom right there.... In your circle of influence you are channels of God's grace and power to bring truth and justice, love and compassion, peace and harmony, one conversation at a time."

Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore as his people we go in his name and in his power to spread his love and his hope throughout his world... one conversation at a time.