09/24/21: Breaking Out of Our Christian Bubbles
Hey everyone! I hope all of your weeks have gone well and that you can enjoy the weekend! Please pray to begin and calm your mind to listen to what God is speaking to you.
Matthew 28:18-2018 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We're all probably very familiar with the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His followers. It is pretty straightforward, Jesus commands us (v. 19) to go out into the world and make disciples everywhere. And v. 18 reminds us that Jesus has all authority to give us this command. We know what we're supposed to do, but it's a lot harder to live it out each day. For many of us, me included, it can be uncomfortable or awkward to talk about our faith with nonbelievers. It just feels so much nicer to be with our other Christian friends at church, fellowship, Bible study or small group. We feel a connection with them, which is a good thing! God wants us to live in community with other believers. However, we are not meant to only live in this "Christian bubble". It is a very important part of our life, but we are also meant to go out into the world and live out and preach the Gospel. Jesus Himself gave us this commandment.
As more in person things have begun, we are moving back out into the world and its influences. We are not supposed to be like the world and follows its temptations and desires, but we still live with it around us. That sometimes makes it easy to feel like we don't want to corrupt ourselves, so we just keep to ourselves until we make it back to "safety" in our bubble. I certainly feel like this a lot, especially as an introvert. It's a hard balance to be in the world and yet reach out to it. We extend our hand with the Gospel while also trying to not get sucked into the world's influences. So what are we to do?
Look at the second half of verse 20. Jesus is always with us, and He loves us so much more than we can ever grasp. He doesn't give us an impossible task to do on our own, but He empowers us to follow His will. We also have each other, to support one another in fulfilling the Great Commission. This can look like doing outreach programs with church or our fellowships, going together with Christian friends to talk with non-Christian friends, handing out Gospel pamphlets together, going to service projects and talking with the people we serve, and many more things! We all have the same command, so we should work together on it, and remember that we have the power of Jesus with us.
I think then an important action step to take then is to pray for our hearts in fulfilling the Great Commission. Pray for us to rely on God, for our heart attitude, and for us to have unity as the "big church" to be a light to this world. Additionally, we need to just go out and do it. I'm gonna try to challenge myself to do it this semester, and I encourage you to as well! So while it is important to make sure we are having fellowship with other believers, we also need to sometimes break out of that bubble and go out into the world to live and preach the Gospel.
Pray to close, praying for yourself, for each other, and for God's empowerment to live out His will. Have a great weekend!
