One of my consistent prayers goes something like this:
“Heavenly Father, today as our church family is spread out around our community and around the world — in homes, at schools, at businesses, at sports and other activities, on vacation, on mission trips, wherever they are — please use them today to serve others, to live for Christ, and to share the good news of Jesus.”
Last Sunday, we saw one answer to that prayer!
Here’s the story: a family from our church was on a cruise. They met another family and began talking. It turns out the second family was moving to our town, and was interested in hearing more about our church. They moved here, and began attending. A short time later, the teenage daughter in the family heard the good news of Jesus, trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior, and received God’s offer of grace, forgiveness and salvation. And a few months later, on this past Sunday, she was baptized as a public profession of her faith in Christ, declaring to the whole world that she is now a follower of Jesus Christ. Awesome.
Did you see what happened? A family on a cruise far away from Dacula (not a lot of cruise ships around here!) knew that God had not just sent them on the cruise to relax and have a good time. They knew that God had a mission for them while on their vacation.
So, to all of you Christians out there, remember that Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples.” The “go” in that passage literally means, “as you were going to be going anyway.” Here’s my paraphrase of Jesus’ command: “As you are going to be going all sorts of places anyway, look for opportunities to make disciples as you go.”
Everywhere you go today, expect to serve people in Jesus’ name. Expect to show the love of Christ through your actions. Expect to listen well. Expect to have opportunities to share the good news of Jesus. You never know what might happen.
And next time you are on a cruise, you might just invite someone to church that is moving to your town!