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Friday

June 19



               A colleague of mine has a printed, framed alphabet sampler hanging near her door. Each letter has either a full or partial Bible verse beginning with that letter, usually from the King James Version.
                No matter how many times I see it, the letter that always grabs my attention is the letter G. The verse associated with G is from the Great Commission; specifically, Matthew 28:19. “Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
                You can’t really see the verse, though, unless you look at it up close. What you can see from a distance is that not only is there a large capital G in the square, but there’s also a globe next to it. So from a distance, it looks like the first word of Matthew 28:19 – “Go.” That never fails to amaze me.
                “Go” is not a suggestion, nor is it a passive word. “Go” indicates action, as in “Go ye, therefore…” This makes the Great Commission not a suggestion, but a Biblical imperative. “Go” means get off your duff and get out there and do something. Simple, right?
                Well, unfortunately, we humans have made it not as simple as it needs to be. No matter how well-intentioned we may be, no matter how much willpower we have, more often than not, it is our “won’t-power” that wins the day. More correctly, that should be our “Don’t-want-to-do-it” power.
                Each of us, me included, is guilty of exercising that power at least from time to time. When it doesn’t fit in with our schedules, we push it aside and maybe – maybe – we get to it later. Then “later” becomes “next day,” and “next day” becomes “next week,” and so on, until we either do it or forget about it completely.
                We’ve turned “go” into “stay.” If we had not only gone out and followed the Great Commission as set out by Jesus – and not just teaching and baptizing, but by actually living the ideal that is Jesus – we might now be living in something approaching the Garden of Eden.
                But since we’re not living in the Garden of Eden, it falls on us, here and now, to try to overcome our inertia and follow those Biblical imperatives: go… do… shall… love.


Lord, these are Your words. You have given us active words, but still we prefer our passive world of if-we-feel-like-it. Bestow upon us a spirit of action so that we shall – not may – go, do, and love in Your name. Amen.

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