Recently Christi and I joined one of those big discount warehouse clubs. When we stepped up to the customer service counter to pay and get our membership cards, we were assisted by a young lady wearing a sweatshirt that read, “I don’t care, at all.” It was all I could do to get through the process because I couldn’t stop wondering how that could happen. Putting aside the unnecessary comma, how could she not see that wearing something that says, “I don’t care, at all” while working a job in which your responsibility is customer care just isn’t the best move? How could she go through the day without someone else saying something to her about it? Then again, maybe they did but she didn’t care—at all. 

All I could think was, “You have one job, and you’re stating up front that you don’t want to do it. I would never do that.” And I wouldn’t. Neither would you. We’d never be that brazen about saying we’re not going to do the one job we’re there to do. 

But would we just go along and quietly fail to do the job? Before we say no, think about the job Jesus gave us before He ascended to heaven: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19- 20 NIV).” 

That’s our primary job—making disciples. Now we’d never walk around wearing a shirt that said, “I don’t care about making disciples, at all” (and not just because we’d never put an unnecessary comma there). But would we just go about our lives ignoring the primary job Jesus gave us? Would you rationalize that it’s not suited to your personality, or that it’s the preacher’s job, or that you don’t know enough about the Bible? 

One of the reasons we talked about the idea of Praying for One is that it helps break that mentality. If we’re praying daily for God to send us someone we can share His love with, we’re making sure that we not only do the job He gave us to do, but that we care about doing it more and more. Even inviting someone to church is a good first step. The elders and ministers have committed to inviting at least two people per week. I challenge you to do the same thing. Pray for one and invite two. When you do that, you’re likely to find God answering your prayer with double what you ask!