Go Tell the World...

“You read me my Bible, Mommy?”

 

He asks this same question every single day sometimes several times a day, this three year old voice chirps like a baby bird hungering for more.  He carries his Bible everywhere and during morning family devotions he sits with his Bible storybook trying to follow along with the others.

Each time I ask a question about any passage in the Bible that we have just read he says, “I know, I know!  Jesus die on the cross?”

Yes, I say, Jesus did die on the cross for our sins.

But this day as we are sitting in the afternoon sunlight, he asks for the story in his Bible storybook with the picture of the cave with the stone that is rolled away.

First, we have to read the story of the cross, I say.

So we do.  When we get to the picture of the cross, he knows this one by heart.

“Jesus die on cross!  Jesus die on cross!  For us! See, see!”

“Yes,” I say with a smile, “he did, but that is not the end, wait for the next story.”

And so we read the story with the picture of the empty tomb.  The part of the story where we find that Jesus didn’t stay dead, he came back to life.  The part of the story where death is defeated forever,  where life eternal through God triumphs.  And my three year olds eyes might just pop out of his head. 

“What?” He is almost screaming with incredulity.

“What?  Jesus?  Jesus come back life?”

“Yes, Jesus came back to life, and he made a way for us to have eternal life by believing in him.”

“Jesus, Jesus come back life!!!” He is screaming now, in shock and joy and uncontainable emotion and he jumps in one swift motion off the couch holding his Bible in his hands and runs for the door.

“Where are you going?” I call.

He hits the door running and throws it open looking for someone, anyone.

As he throws open the door, he finds a neighbor boy standing in our garage (he knew he’d find some since any time you open a door at our house there are neighbor kids hiding behind them).

I can hear him standing in the garage and in a joyous howl proclaiming, “Look, look,” He is pointing to the picture of the empty tomb, “Jesus, he come back life, he come back life!”

Blake bends down and looks at the picture of the tomb and smiles. “Yes, Jesus came back to life.  I know.”

So Little E moves on.  Running from the garage he heads for the front yard, searching for someone who hasn’t heard this amazing news yet.

He finds another neighbor, the ecstatic news spilling from his lips.  He is pointing waving hollering, jumping.  He heads for the backyard.  More kids there.  He tells them his news, the most amazing news he has ever heard.  He can’t even help himself.

 

And I see it scrawled across his face in unmistakable print, just this: joy.

And I wonder, when did I forget that obedience to God’s commands lead to joy.

Jesus, in his last words to this disciples before he ascended to heaven, commanded us to go, tell the world the Good News. The Good News that death has been defeated, the power of sin has been broken, that God has come for us, and made a way to bring us back into his family.

God came searching for all of us lost ones.

And he paid the price for us to make us His once and for all.  So that those of us who believe in Jesus and take his free gift of grace can be with Him forever.

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark  16:15-16

One of my favorite passages of scripture is John chapters 14-16 where Jesus is trying to download to his disciples everything they need to know before he leaves, because tomorrow he knows he is going to the cross.  “As the father has loved me, so I have loved you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands you will remain in my love, just as I obey my father’s commands and remain in His love.  I have told you this so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.” John 15:9-11

As believers in Christ, if our greatest joy is Jesus, then obeying his commands leads to joy, and joy unspeakable. 

As I’m driving down the road with my fourteen year old son we talk about the mission trip we took to Costa Rica this past winter. 

“I never thought I would forget Costa Rica,” he is trying to sort out the words, “I never thought I would forget the joy I had there.  But here, it is hard.  I feel like I forget.”

“I know.  But do you know what the joy was that we felt there?  It was the joy of Jesus.  It was the joy of following and obeying his commands to go into all the world and share the gospel.  That joy isn’t just found in Costa Rica, we can have it here. We can have it now.  I feel it when I take steps of faith to share Jesus with anyone, anywhere.  At the international mom’s Bible study, in our neighborhood, with our family.  Jesus wanted us to have joy and fullest joy in Him and in sharing Him with others.”

Preaching the good news of Jesus resurrection is a command to every believer but in Jesus our obedience to Jesus gives us joy. God is for us.  God’s commands are for our good and lead to our joy.

So go tell somebody the Good News and discover His joy again.