November 12 – Global nature of life

I needed to buy a new set of measuring cups recently. When I got home from the store I looked a little closer at the cups and realized that the cups were marked with both the “english” system of measurement and the “metric” system – cups and millilitres. The packaging was labeled in both English and French. I assume this product originated in Canada. Yesterday a package arrived at my house with a blanket I ordered and I noticed the tag, “Made in China.”

There are all sorts of economic or other reflections I might make on these purchases, but my mind always heads towards theology first. When Jesus gave the Great Commission to the disciples he told them to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” I wonder how many nations those first disciples knew about? How big was the world in their minds? The known world was much smaller to them than it is to us today. Travel was difficult. Yet, the journey of Paul and the other first disciples planted seeds that bore fruit for thousands of years in many nations.

With travel and communication so much easier today is it easier for modern disciples to feel like we’ve obeyed the Great Commission by taking a trip to another country for a week of mission work? What about supporting organizations at work in far parts of the world? When something is very difficult to do you must be very devoted to get it done – does the modern-day church suffer because it is so easy to be globally connected that we don’t focus on the Great Commission like those early disciples did?

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