The Great Recognition

Seemed bigger

Have you ever visited somewhere, or something (or even someone) that as a kid seemed so huge and even intimidating? My wife Kathie and I were talking about this the other day. She remembered how as a kid the Log Ride at Knott’s Berry Farm and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland seemed so scary. She would hold her breath for the whole ride. But as an adult those rides seem small and almost sedate.  

It’s all about perspective and proportion. There are things in our lives that from our perspective seem to have enormous proportions.

After Jesus rose from the dead and just before he ascended, we are told that Jesus met with His disciples and that there were still some who doubted.  Jesus responded with these words,

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Proportions 

Those words Jesus are often referred to as the Great Commission. Followers of Jesus are commissioned to proclaim the good news to the world. The problem is that we often look at the world around us like we looked at things as kids: scary, intimidating, and big.  We think to ourselves…

“Whoa, the world’s a huge place! Make disciples? Baptize? Teach? How can I so this with all the nations when I can’t even get my family to listen to me?”

But those proportions are based on a perspective that is too limited. That’s why Jesus started with the words, “All authority has been given to me,” and then concluded with the words, “I am with you always”. The proportions of the challenges and obstacles before us should be put into the perspective of the fact that Satan has been totally defeated and that Jesus is with us everywhere we go.

This perspective should give the Great Commission a different proportion. Maybe it should be called, the Great Recognition.