My Bucket List
“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
Today’s Text: Matthew 28:11-20 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
If some of Jesus’s former disciples doubted that who they were seeing was the resurrected Christ, how much more would we doubt today if we were in their shoes?
But then the Book of Acts tells us that Jesus taught the disciples over a period of forty days after His resurrection. And then Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that the Lord appeared to over 500 people at the same time. I wonder if those who doubted that they were seeing the resurrected Christ changed their minds after a while.
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’s appearing to His disciples in Galilee is the basis for His Great Commission:
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 always, to the very end of the age.
— verses 19-20
In order to take that Great Commission to heart, we must be 100% convinced that Jesus was indeed resurrected from the grave. If we are not fully convinced, then our bucket lists will always be more important than the will of Christ.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with having a bucket list of places one would like to visit, but then why can we not repurpose our bucket lists in obedience to Christ. I am probably over-exaggerating the point when I ask rhetorically: How selfish do we need to be to say to Jesus our Lord, “No, Lord. You cannot have my destination vacation in service to Your Great Commission”?
It’s as if using our destination vacation in service to fulfill the Great Commission would completely ruin our vacation. But like I said, I am certainly over-exaggerating the point.
On the other hand, if it is the priority of our lives to serve our risen Lord and to fulfill the Great Commission, we could visit the world and blow our bucket lists away.
In service to the Lord, I have visited Burkina Faso, Australia, New Zealand, Japan (many times), UAE (overnight layover), Zambia (many times), ROK (many times), and Central Asia. In the future, I plan to visit Indonesia, Japan again, ROK of course, perhaps Paris, and who knows where else. And all that I am really doing in those destinations is serving the churches in whatever way that they ask. Sometimes its helping with VBS or English camps or sports camps or preaching or Bible teaching or college campus outreach … whatever.
What we do out there is not “niche” or “exotic” or “harsh.” It’s just doing church.
I mean, some people think that missions have to be “niche” or “exotic” or “harsh,” but that’s not me. Because it’s not about the experience. It’s about serving the church of our Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
I think many people don’t understand the point of “doing church” over there, when we could just as easily “do church” here too. Yes we can. And we should. But the point of fulfilling the Great Commission is that it is Jesus’s commission to us. He—our Lord—told us to do it. So it’s pointless and probably a bit rebellious to ask, “What’s the point?” It’s better not to over think it, and just go where we ourselves would like to go in service to Christ.
Father, You have created this entire beautiful world. There is so much to see and enjoy. But so many people don’t know the name of Jesus. As we go and explore this beautiful world of Your, anoint us with Your Holy Spirit to submit our bucket lists under Your purposes and Your great plan of salvation for the world in Christ Jesus. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
