“We have enough problems in our own country.”

“There are plenty of unsaved people here.”

These are two comments I hear on a regular basis.   The second one all the time.

The rational is that there are so many problems in each of our own countries and so many saved in our own countries that “going” is actually looked down upon.

So why go?  Should we all stay until most everyone is saved and all the problems are mostly gone?

The very nature of the questions usually sound off-handed my and from people who are not wanting a response actually reflect the very opposite of the teachings of Scripture.

Jesus said, “Go.”

Go “into all the world” (Mt 28:18-20).

Does all the world mean only our own countries?

Jesus also said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Do the ends of the earth mean only to the ends of my town, my county and my country?  Or does it mean to the ends of the earth?

Even in the Old Testament in Isaiah 42 it says that the islands will put their hope in him and worship him.  There are lot of very small islands and for them to hear we must go.

God’s mandate has always been to go.  We are to be the light and salt of the earth.  When God has called someone to go, bless them and encourage them.  But to say “there are plenty of unsaved people here” misses the heart of Jesus.

We live and go “so that all may see and know” (Isaiah 41:20).