Confesssions Of A Christian Bothered By The Great Commission

"I could use fifty men or women to teach the Bible in Africa. I'd drop them every twenty miles, into the African jungle and say, 'Go! Teach the Truth'"
~ Andy, A Missionary In Africa."

I sat in the church life group noticing the expressions of those in the living room.
Did we really just hear what Andy had spoken?
We did.
We all heard.
But none of us are about to get dropped off in the jungle of Africa to teach the Bible.
No. Way.
I mean, not unless we were "called" by God.

On the drive home I struggled with our reaction to Andy's words.
We were entertained by the missionary's stories,
but we became less than thrilled when he mentioned a need that we could technically fill.

All of us in the room were Christians.
We have been participating in  Bible studies for a whole lot of years.
We could teach the Bible.
We could go.
Perhaps for a fleeting moment the thought danced in our spirits.
Inspired by Andy's life.
He was just a man....like us.
And yet, he was living the Great Commission.
If Andy could do it, so could we.

But then there are jobs,
and money,
the vacation we have planned for next summer,
our parents and children,
college tuition,
weddings,
and funerals.

The comfortable rhythm of life.

Didn't our Pastor say, "Not all will go"?
And almost as soon as we had the thought to be an Andy....we were valiantly rescued by all the reasons why...we shouldn't, or couldn't.

Phew!

So we told Andy we'd support him in prayer.
We tossed a check into the little basket by the door... it helped to ease the nagging suspicion that we had just been duped by ourselves.

And we drove home to forget.
But I couldn't.
I couldn't shake the feeling that perhaps I was willfully ignorant of a purpose.
I couldn't stop thinking of Andy waving goodbye to us from the front porch.
He had a flight to catch in the morning.
Off to "tell the world" I suppose.

Tomorrow, I'd be off to make enough money to pay our second mortgage and the car payment.
It must be nice to be Andy, and not have to think about those kind of things.

I want to forget everything Andy said.

Are there really that many people left who do not know about Jesus?
Two BILLION?
Come on...

I wish I had not gone tonight.
I don't like to think of myself as someone who doesn't care.
What a terrible discomfort to know the Great Commission remains unfinished, and that I don't really wish to be bothered with it.

"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" ~ Mathew 28:19