This is Right Outside Your Door
This is Right Outside Your Door
Have you ever been to a church or maybe a government building or monument that has dozens of flags from all over the world?
If you’re Canadian, one of the first things you do is try to find the flag(s) of your country of origin, or the flag from a country you feel represents your story and family history. To be Canadian is, for most people, to come from somewhere else. We are a nation made of many tribes and tongues and people groups and nations. It’s one of the most beautiful parts of Canada, and one that makes us very proud to call this place home. Yet this diversity is not always easy or peaceful. It can be quite superficial for us to talk as if Canada is all one big, happy, diverse family.
The image we’ve discussed on the show this week from Revelation 7 of people from all people groups and languages worshipping Jesus in one collective voice is so beautifully striking. I love this picture. Maybe you do too. I’m imagining us all together as one people in peace and unity towards the One that we worship and have longed to be with. Jesus on the throne, the worthy Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Belonging to the Church, the Body of Christ is the only thing that can bring lasting unity and one-mindedness to people from all over the earth. All other nations and causes fade away with time and strain. Yet the challenge set before us is to invite others of all people groups into this type of unity and eternal family, so that one day we will worship Jesus together in one voice with our neighbours beside us.
The beauty of this moment in history as Canadians is that the world is at our doorstep, and the peoples of the earth have arrived in a place where we are free to share our faith, and we didn’t even need to pay to travel to them. On their own dollars, God has brought the peoples of the world to Canada. Touch Canada, and you touch the world.
If revival comes to our nation, within a few hours the news can be spread to all corners of the world through the power of technology and digital communications. Many people who have come to Canada from countries where they never would have had the chance to hear about Jesus are now sharing Jesus with their families back home through Skype, WhatsApp, and pages of scripture sent through smartphone cameras. Some of my own friends have this story, and risk much to share what they have learned about Jesus in Canada back home in their nation of origin.
What are you doing to reach out to the world at your doorstep? Is there a neighbour you need to meet? Someone at work or on the playground you need to befriend? Trust the Holy Spirit’s leading and pray that he would grow your heart for the nations, that we all might worship Him!