“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'” Matthew 28:18-20
This is the Great Commission. Before coming on the World Race, that is what I thought the goal to being a Christian and a part of global missions was – fulfilling the Great Commission. I thought that was THE thing God called us to do. His disciples were told to drop everything and follow Him, shouldn’t we? God calls us to go and make disciples of all nations and what a gift that is. But wait. Though the Great Commission is in-fact “great” there is something even more important to missions and to being a Christian.
“‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'” Matthew 22:36-40
This, the Great Commandment, is above all the other commands and commissions in the Bible. Yes, the Great Commission is crucially important and is the verse that calls us to missions. However, we could not have it without the Great Commandment. It calls us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind. How could we live out the Great Commission if we are not head over heels for the Lord God Almighty? Next, it calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves. How could we go out and make disciples if we have little love for the nations? The Great Commandment is foundationally important. If we start with love, everything else will fall into place. With a foundation of love, we will start to walk in more joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as in Galatians 5. All of these things, which come from the Great Commandment, are key to living out the Great Commission.
I got to see firsthand the true difference that comes from focusing on the Great Commandment first and then walking in the Great Commission. When we first arrived in Nicaragua, we were discipled by our ministry host – what an incredible opportunity! One of the first lessons he taught us was the importance of the Great Commandment. He showed us that if we prioritized love for God and love for others above all else, every other call the Bible asks us to live out will follow from there. The more we grow in love, the more we will be able to walk in the Lord’s commands every day. How beautiful is that! I could see a shift in how we did ministry from that day forward. Now instead of going out and doing ministry work just because we were on a mission trip, our hearts and minds shifted. We had a new focus on love. You could see the desire to love the Lord and in turn to love His people. We began to be more intentional with those we met. We even started to joyfully get out of bed at 5am every day!
I remember one day when the importance of the Great Commandment in ministry and in missions became clear to me. One of the ways we poured into people in Nicaragua was by visiting the local hospital. Our goal was simply to sit with, talk to and pray over the people there. One of the visits this day was especially hard. The patient in this room was a man in the last stages of diabetes, lying in bed with amputated limbs. It was heartbreaking. But there was something different about this room, something that made it seem less awful, less heavy. As I sat there, I realized it was love. Love was prevalent in that room. This man was surrounded by a family that loved him deeply and was by his side. My heart was different too. Instead of seeing all the brokenness, it seemed all I could see was the beauty and depth of God’s love for this man and of the family for this man. Moved by love we were able to share with him a little bit of the joy and peace that God has to offer.
Since then, I have realized the transformation that happens when everything we do comes from a place of love instead of obligation. That is the true beauty of global missions I am starting to realize. Instead of doing things because we think it’s expected of us, we start to go about every day with eyes and arms wide open for the Lord and His people. What a valuable lesson we were so blessed to learn before going out to other nations to share the love of the Lord.
