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Obvious, But Not That Obvious: The Missionary Impulse Belongs To God

 If you've been a Christian, and you've gone to the same church for any length of time, you'll probably meet some missionaries. Mission work is a big deal, and rightly so. We love that "Go, therefore,…" at the end of Matthew's Gospel. Again, this is rightly so. But don't forget what Jesus says right before that: "All power in heaven, and on earth has been given to me." It is interesting that he does not say, "to you". What this means plainly is that anyone who shares the good news of Jesus does so in the power of Jesus.

St. Paul gets pretty worked up about immorality in Corinth, and he says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" Leaving aside the immorality for a moment, this is one of those, "Do you realize what this is saying?!?" moments of the Bible. We ourselves are temples. The adoration of Almighty God is taking place within us! There is a mystery here, but this is why Jesus told us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in us. The Blessed Trinity is itself a communion of love. God is conducting a mutual admiration society for Himself in our souls. It seems funny, but unlike us, God isn't being sarcastic.

All of the known world would come to Jerusalem to worship the true God in the one Temple; now, God empowers millions of people to bring the true worship with them wherever they go.

I must confess, this lofty thought has not been at the forefront of my thoughts the past few days. Yet that is all the more reason to meditate on it, when it does come to mind. Forgiveness is always available, if the Temple has started to look like a 7-11 with a lazy cleanup crew.

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