Are you coming to the end?

Are you tying up loose ends of a project or completing the final phase of an initiative?

Has the end already been decided and forced upon you?

Is the ministry opportunity you’ve invested yourself in naturally coming to a close?

Has God emphatically closed the door, halting the direction you had been heading?

What are you to do when faced with the end?

John the Baptist’s followers had to answer this very question. They had accompanied John as he proclaimed the coming Messiah, helped corral the crowds coming to repent and be baptized. They had encountered the Christ that John had heralded, and watched their ministry slow and fade. And, they stayed faithful to John as he was imprisoned for proclaiming God’s truth.

Suddenly, their journey with their leader was done. John was cruelly beheaded, and his disciples were left with the question, now what?

This was their response in Matthew 14:12 –

Then his disciples came, removed the corpse, buried it, and went and reported to Jesus.

They didn’t wait around, or for a sign. They buried their leader and their past mission, and went straight to Jesus. They reported for duty and to wait for new orders.

So many times we drag out an ended dream or ministry project when God has moved on and wants us to do the same. We may mourn the end of a movement, but God doesn’t. His plans are so much greater than us, and He has work for us to do.

What do you need to bury and leave in the ground? Do it, quickly, before it decays.

Go, and report to Jesus. He knows your heart, and He has a mission with you in mind.