And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

–Matthew 28:18-20

There are two types of people when it comes to completing group projects in school. Those who love it because they get a partner to lean on, and those who hate it because they didn’t want their grade to suffer because of their partner’s lack of effort.

Growing up, I was the latter. If given the choice, I would likely choose to work by myself because I knew that many of my classmates weren’t as committed to getting good grades as I was. I was the kid who was embarrassed to get below an A on any assignment, so that often meant doing more than my fair share of the work when group projects rolled around.

Because of this, these projects often became a source of stress and at least a little bitterness at what felt like the unfairness of the situation. Very rarely did those projects lead to any positive emotions. Which is at least part of the reason I think it’s so miraculous that God would purposely choose to partner with us.

The project we see described in the Great Commission is a group project. Not just in the sense that we, as a body of believers, have a job to do that requires that we work together. That’s only one part of the picture. It’s also a group project in which God partners with each individual Christian to achieve the goal of making disciples.

I find this both astounding and rather convicting. Convicting because I know how much effort I have (or have not) put into intentionally going about the work of making disciples.

I don’t mean to say that I’ve never done anything to advance God’s kingdom. But if I’m honest, my performance in this area has more often looked like the partners I tried to avoid working with in school. Instead of intentionally looking for ways to invest in people and build them up as disciples, I too often vaguely blither about in the general direction of doing what God has called me to do.

Now comes the astounding part. In this passage, God does what only He would do. He commits Himself, in all of His steadfastness and faithfulness, to partnering with us knuckleheads. He doesn’t say, “I’ll be with you as long as you stick with the program.” Or, “I’ll be with you as long as I’m happy with the effort you’re putting in.”

He says, “I’ll be with you until the end of the age.” Point blank, period. It’s a promise made by the best promise keeper in existence, and His choice was to never walk away from our partnership. To always be beside us as we work on this project, whether we’re actually putting forth effort or not. And that’s something I find to be truly miraculous.