One of the most recognized and trusted advertising slogans in the world is “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best”. This phrase is more than just a slogan for Hallmark, it was a business commitment for the distinctive card company. When Ed Goodman, a Hallmark sales and marketing executive, wrote the words on a 3×5 index card in 1944, he was trying to capture the essence of why Hallmark stood as the very best in the world. Little did Goodman know just how much pressure the slogan would put on the company to be the very best and second to no other card company.
Thinking about this slogan, I wondered, do we send our very best to show we care? I don’t mean do we send Hallmark cards. What I mean is, do we send on mission the very best from our church to show a lost world we care?
The God we serve is a sending God. Nearly every time He speaks to someone in scripture, He is sending them on a mission. From Abraham to Moses to Paul, to us, God’s people are always being sent into the world on mission. God showed He cared by sending His best and only son into the world to save us. Jesus is referred to as “sent” forty seven times in the New Testament. Clearly, God is a sender by nature and cares about us.
After His resurrection, Jesus passed on his identity to His disciples: “As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). Like his disciples – we too, have a responsibility to send our very best.
We read in Acts 13:1-3 that after prayer and fasting, the church at Antioch sent Barnabas and Saul out on mission to share the Gospel. They did so in obedience to Jesus’ command to go and the Holy Spirit’s leading. Make no mistake about it, the church sent out on mission two of their best because they cared for those who had not yet heard the Gospel. They correctly believed that people who don’t know Christ as Savior and Lord will suffer God’s judgement. So why would they not seek to share the Gospel with those who need to hear it? Barnabas and Saul were strong leaders and faithful teachers, but the church didn’t try to talk them into staying. Rather, they cared enough to send out two of their best churchmen because they cared for the unreached. Our failure to send out the very best from our churches to serve on mission or start a new church speaks to our lack of care for those who have not yet heard the Gospel and experienced the grace of Christ.
In the same way the slogan put pressure on the Hallmark company, I pray the example of the church at Antioch will put pressure on our churches to send the best members out on mission. Let’s show the lost world we care by sending our very best to share the Gospel with them.
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