If you knew that you only had one hour left on this earth, and if you were able to gather all of your closest family and friends, what would you tell them? What would you want them to know?  What parting advice or charge or word of encouragement would you want to leave them with?

This is a sobering situation to consider.  It was not merely an imagined scenario, however, for our Lord after he resurrected and was about to leave the earth and ascend to the right hand of the Father.

His last message was a passage known by most as “The Great Commission.”  It’s found in each of the gospels, but the most notable occurrence is in Matt. 28:18-20.  These are likely the final words Christ spoke to his followers before he left.  Notice these six characteristics of his parting message.  It was a:

1) Sovereign Message — (”all authority”)
2) Sending Message — (”Go”)
3) Saving Message — (”make disciples”)
4) Incorporating Message — (”baptizing”)
5) Instructing Message — (”teaching”)
6) Inspirational Message — (”I am with you always”)

Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789-1826)

Its always fascinating to me to hear different individuals articulate what it is to be a Christian—what its like, what it makes them think of, how their countenance changes when they speak of it, what pictures they envision, what convictions their heart stirs with, etc.

Here’s a description that stole my attention immediately when I read it for the first time.  I came across it a few weeks back while reading Adoniram Judson’s biography, To the Golden Shore.  Judson didn’t say it, though.  His wife did.

In describing the fellowship of salvation, she explains it as sharing in,

“Joys as exalted as heaven, durable as eternity!”  —Ann Hasseltine Judson, p. 166

What a beautiful expression.  No need to add anything to it.  I’ll just leave you with it and hope that it soaks into your soul like it did mine.

Have you come across any similarly striking expressions or descriptions regarding the Christian faith?  Your comments are welcomed.

On the same day they were married, young Adoniram and Ann (”Nancy”) Judson, future missionaries to the peoples of Burma (modern-day Myanmar), attended a commissioning service for themselves and a handful of other young men and women.

The service took place at the church where Nancy had grown up.  Her minister, Parson Allen, composed a special hymn for the occasion.  It was delivered at the end of the service.  It is said that, “People wept unashamedly as the sang.”

Here’s the first verse:

Go, ye heralds of salvation; Go, and preach in heathen lands;
Publish loud to every nation, What the Lord of life commands,
Go, ye sisters, their companions, Soothe their cares, and wipe their tears,
Angels shall in bright battalions Guard your steps and guard your fears.

—From Courtney Anderson’s, To the Golden Shore (pp. 108-109)

I was deeply moved when I read this account and pictured family and friends sending off the young missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission, most likely to never see them again.

Related Post:

—A Word of Conviction from Adoniram Judson

The great Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson was but a young student when he wrote the following words in a ‘conservatives’ religious magazine’ in the year 1810.

“How do Christians discharge the trust committed to them? … They let three fourths of the world sleep the sleep of death, ignorant of the simple truth that a Savior had died for them.  Content if they can be useful in the little circle of their acquaintances, they quietly sit and see whole nations perish for lack of knowledge.”  —(From Courtney Anderson’s, To the Golden Shore)

His feet had never touched foreign soil.  They would, but that time had not yet come.  He and his fellow mission-minded friends were ever seeking new and better ways to promote their project while they went through the long and tedious process of securing support for their gospel journey to Asia.

His words sink deep into my life.  We are all called, as believers, to share in his passion and urgency to get the truth of God’s message of redemption to the world.

Related links:

• Wikipedia’s entry on Judson
• Wholesome Words’ bio-database on Judson
• John Piper’s conference message on Judson