The great commission. That’s what we call the last directive that Jesus gave his disciples before he ascended to heaven. Now we know what the word great means, but what about the word commission?

Webster’s Dictionary defines “commission” as “an entrusted task or authorization, to put into service.”

Jesus entrusted us with a task to accomplish. But notice, before he gave us this task, he says something that is so important, yet I think many of us miss it. He begins by saying that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. Now that’s huge, it basically means that he is the one in charge, it means he is the one calling the shots both in the heavens and on earth. Based on that, he then tells his disciples, therefore go! Based on the authority that he has been given, he is commissioning us to go, he is sending us to go.

There can be no commissioning without authority, and there can be no power without authority.

It’s just like the policeman who after training is commissioned to go and accomplish a task. The government which holds the power and authority within the jurisdiction of its boarders empowers the policeman to fulfil that commission. The people within the country’s boarders respond to the power and authority behind the policeman no matter his size or how he looks like, and if they don’t, then they have to deal with the government. The same policeman loses this power and authority when they step out of the country’s borders. The boarders where Jesus holds all power and authority is all the heavens and the earth.

Though we have been commissioned, many believers respond to the great commission as though it were the great omission. We forget or fail to understand that this is the most important assignment for humanity. It is the reason Jesus came, it is the reason he died, it is the reason he rose from the dead. As the song by Point of Grace says, “God loves people more than anything, more than anything he wants them to know, he’d rather die than let them go ‘cause God loves people more than anything.”

We must be deliberate in sharing the good news of the kingdom with others. We must make it our way of life and not an event that we engage in once in a while. The great commission is the mandate that Jesus left with each one who identifies as his disciple. There is no plan B, we must get the job done!

Remember he also told us that he will be with us all the way to the end of the age.

Hallelujah, we have been commissioned to GO!

How have you been responding to the great commission?

Jesus has got all power and authority in heaven and on earth, and he is the one who has commissioned you to go, what’s your understanding of that?

What are some obstacles you must overcome to share your faith more frequently?