The disciples of this generation must move away from the confinement of our individual assemblies or groups.  Our message, our mission and our movement are limitless.  The early assembly went from homes to neighborhoods to towns to cities and to other countries, accomplishing the great commission.

The commission to those disciples and also to us is “Go into ALL the world…”.  Perhaps we have personalized the commission and interpreted it as ‘our world’, that is, our church, our family and perhaps our neighbors…when we get a chance to see them.

The commission goes far beyond our personal ‘worlds’, the call to discipleship is not a call to keep in touch with the people we know but to extend our reach in an effort to make disciples of men.  So it is time to expand our borders.  In fact it is time to remove or go outside of the borders we now know.

I am inspired by the work of the humanitarian group: Doctors Without Borders.  The work of this organization is based on principles of “medical ethics, impartiality and a commitment to bringing quality medical care to people caught in crisis regardless of race, religion or political affiliation.”[1]

The doctors in this organization make sacrifices and commit themselves to serve in areas where they are not only undercompensated, but also they work in very harsh conditions.  However, their service is priceless, as they bring aid and hope to communities that would not otherwise receive aid.

In thinking about being Disciples without borders, I wondered how much we would be willing to sacrifice in order to accomplish our mission.  There is no doubt that going beyond our current borders will require sacrifice. But this is a sacrifice that is well worth the effort,  there are many persons of different race, religion and political affiliation that simply have not heard about the love of Yahweh and the plan of salvation.  They need to be healed and saved.

Individually, we are able to extend ourselves and our message to persons who do not fit into our tight little groups.  I have often had the opportunity to be reminded of the importance of the call to authentic discipleship.  I am reminded of the tremendous cost, and the greatness of the commission.  I thought I would share this reminder. Let us make a fresh commitment to be disciples such as those we read about in our bibles:  dedicated, steadfast, radical, unstoppable, full of the Holy Spirit and living the great commission.

For more devotionals, see Sufficient For Today by Sharon Haughton on Amazon.com, Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook.

Photo credit: http://www.Pixabay.com

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