Go into all the world...
Illustration
"Go into all the world." This is the word of Jesus to his disciples. Go, bearing the good news. How well have we listened, how well obeyed? Our record is mixed.
Those first disciples were very faithful about this, as were many who folowed them. They were goers, always going to someone. Historically, no peopIe ever received the gospel except from an alien or a foreigner. It was a Jew who brought the gospel to Rome, a Roman who took it to France, a Frenchman who took it to Scandinavia, a Scandinavian who took it to Scotland, and others, arising from within this stream, took it to Germany and England and the rest of the world, including, eventually, North America.
More recently, it seems, the disciples of Jesus have not been listening so well or obeying so willingly. An artist painted a picture titled "A Decaying Church." But nowhere in timber or stone or steel could any decay be seen. The stones were all in place, cemented well. The timbers were varnished to a gleaming luster, the steel polished and bright. There were no signs of decay -- not until one looked very closely. There in the main foyer where the fashionable crowds would pass stood an elaborate collection box where the people might take their offerings. The legend reads: "For the spreading of the gospel." No sign of decay yet. But here it comes:
spun across the open slot in that collection box was the dusty old web of a spider.
-- Mann
Those first disciples were very faithful about this, as were many who folowed them. They were goers, always going to someone. Historically, no peopIe ever received the gospel except from an alien or a foreigner. It was a Jew who brought the gospel to Rome, a Roman who took it to France, a Frenchman who took it to Scandinavia, a Scandinavian who took it to Scotland, and others, arising from within this stream, took it to Germany and England and the rest of the world, including, eventually, North America.
More recently, it seems, the disciples of Jesus have not been listening so well or obeying so willingly. An artist painted a picture titled "A Decaying Church." But nowhere in timber or stone or steel could any decay be seen. The stones were all in place, cemented well. The timbers were varnished to a gleaming luster, the steel polished and bright. There were no signs of decay -- not until one looked very closely. There in the main foyer where the fashionable crowds would pass stood an elaborate collection box where the people might take their offerings. The legend reads: "For the spreading of the gospel." No sign of decay yet. But here it comes:
spun across the open slot in that collection box was the dusty old web of a spider.
-- Mann
