“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
Okay, it is confession time. This is a verse that I have not misquoted, but misused. Maybe you have done the same. I have worked almost exclusively in overseas missions for the last twenty years. One of the main criticisms our ministry has received every now and then, has been from people who believed we should be working here in America too, perhaps even primarily.
This would get me rather hot under the collar. I would quote Acts 1:8 in a somewhat offended manner and emphasize “the ends of the earth”. And it was true – the guilty party was ignoring this part of the verse. To only focus on domestic missions goes against Jesus’ directive here.
However, as these “America-only” people were ignoring 25% of this verse, yours truly was ignoring the previous 75%. Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria were all a part of Israel. Until two years ago, I wasn’t involved in helping to reach my own city, state or nation. God showed me that comparing poverty in America to the worst slums I had seen overseas just wasn’t fair. There were still people in need here.
The lesson here for me was to not be a hypocrite. I needed to remove the huge plank of hardwood in my own eye before pointing out the much smaller grievance in another (Matthew 7:3). So, while this is certainly an appropriate verse to quote about The Lord’s charge to us to spread His Word to the world, make sure you are obeying it to the fullest.