February 21 I Monday

Numbers 1-2

Mark 3:1-19

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”   —Isaiah 6:8

An interesting fact about the book of Colossians is that the Apostle Paul was writing it to a church that he did not plant. Epaphras planted the church at Colossae. Regardless, Paul was called to an apostolic ministry, to labour alongside many churches, even ones he never planted. We may think this is unique, but it is not, because we are called to missions. We are to reach all people with the good news of Jesus Christ, and disciple them into solid, mature Christians.

      A few years ago, when I took our media team from The Peoples Church (Toronto, Canada) to Colombia to cover the Venezuelan refugee crisis, millions of people were crossing the bridge daily from Venezuela to Colombia. The church in Venezuela, the church in Colombia and other churches throughout the world were combining their resources to meet the drastic needs that existed in the reality and situation in Colombia. They pooled their resources together to create a refreshment station up in the mountains, located about 100km from the border, up in the mountains where the refugee highway traversed. We drove to the station, and it took quite a while. As I was sitting in the car, I saw people walking this long highway through Colombia with nothing. 

      At the refreshment station, members of the body of Christ were cooking food, providing clean drinking water for weary travellers and washing their feet. I remember watching this woman wash the feet of a man. His feet were cracked and bleeding from not having adequate footwear for hundreds of miles. She applied aloe to heal the man’s sores, while he was eating this delicious meal. Then, she prayed over him, and he began to break down and weep. The woman’s face is imprinted on my mind, even to this day—she had a bright smile as she washed the man’s dirty feet.

      Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was ill and you looked after Me....Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me” (Matthew 25:35-36, 40).

      We tend to think of worship, community and missions as three separate things, but they are intertwined. When we engage in missions together, we demonstrate that we are not only reconciled to God but also to one another, and we experience Christ in a profound way.

Prayer: Holy God, whether I realize it or not, I am called to join Your global mission, to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. Break down any barriers that may hinder me from pursuing this call. Thank You, God.