As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
—John 17:18
The Lord Jesus lived here on earth under a deep consciousness of having a mission from His Father to fulfill. He continually used the expression, “The Father has sent Me.” He knew what the mission was. He knew that the Father had chosen Him and had sent Him into the world with the one purpose of fulfilling that mission. He knew the Father would give Him all that He needed for it. Faith in the Father having sent Him was the motive and power for all that He did.
For the Christian, it is no less important that he should know that he has a mission, what its nature is, and how he is to accomplish it. Our mission is like His in its purpose.Why did the Father send His Son? To make known His love and His will in the salvation of sinners. He was to represent the unseen Father in heaven, so that men on earth might know what the Father is like.
After the Lord had fulfilled His mission, He ascended into heaven. And now He has given His mission to His disciples, after having shown them how to fulfill it. They must so represent Him that, from seeing them, men can judge what He is. Every Christian must so be the image of Jesus that from them the world may know what Christ is like. Oh, my soul, take time to realize these heavenly thoughts. Our mission is like Christ’s in its purpose—to show forth the holy love of heaven in earthly form.
Believer, the Lord, who knows you and your surroundings, has need of you, and has chosen you to be His representative in the circle in which you move. Fix your heart on this. He has fixed His heart on you and saved you, in order that you should bear and exhibit to those who surround you the very image of His unseen glory. Oh, think of the origin of your heavenly mission in His everlasting love, as His had its origin in the love of the Father. Your mission is, truly, just like His.