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Series: Beyond the Great Commission

Devotional: 4 of 5

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. (Psalm 37:23)

The Great Commission is indeed great. But as we’ve been exploring in this series, there is great danger in treating the Great Commission as the only one Jesus left us. 

One of those dangers is that it ironically makes us less effective at the Great Commission. Why? Because it makes Christians feel guilty for working in the very places most likely to make disciples!

Dr. Michael Green, an expert on the explosion of Christianity in the first few centuries, says that the historical evidence “makes it abundantly clear that in contrast to the present day, when Christianity is . . . dispensed by a professional clergy . . . in the early days the faith was spontaneously spread by informal evangelists,” who shared the gospel “in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls.” 

That was true in the early church, and likely to be true for the foreseeable future as non-Christians are more reticent than ever to darken the door of a church and entire nations are closing their doors to Christian missionaries. 

But when the Great Commission is the only one we hear preached and when the only people we see on the stages of our churches are pastors and “full-time missionaries,” those of us who work as entrepreneurs, baristas, and accountants inevitably feel guilty about working anywhere other than the mission field. Most dramatically, that guilt will lead us to leave the very workplaces where we’re most likely to make disciples. At a minimum, it will make us half-hearted creatures while we stay there. 

For the last two years, I have been working on a book that will be released in January called The Sacredness of Secular Work to help you see how your work matters for eternity even when you’re not “sharing the gospel.” But do you know what’s interesting? I’ve shared the gospel more in the last two years than I have in the ten years prior. Why? Because once you understand how 100% of your time can matter for eternity and not just the 1% when you get to explicitly share the gospel, it makes you come fully alive. And fully alive people attract the lost like craft coffee attracts hipsters.

Psalm 37:23 says that “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” God doesn’t just delight in watching you walk a co-worker through the Romans Road. He delights in every Zoom meeting you lead, every diaper you change, and every Uber you drive with excellence and love and in accordance with his commands. May that truth lead you to be fully alive as you work for his glory today!