On this day in 1888, the first issue of National Geographic Magazine was released at newsstands.

Flip through the pages of a National Geographic Magazine, and you’ll quickly be amazed at the great photography. Their writers and photographers literally travel to the ends of the earth, from Alaska to Afghanistan and from mountaintops to ocean depths, to get interesting stories. And they always capture human emotions, fascinating culture, and natural beauty in their pictures.

If you read more than one issue, you’ll be struck with the differences in cultures, yet the similarities among people. All people have the same basic needs—food, water, shelter—and they experience the same emotions, including love, hate, fear, longing, grief, and joy. Every people group has mothers and fathers struggling to raise their families, workers trying to make a living, and children looking for fun. Everyone also has a spiritual side, expressed in a wide variety of ways.

When Jesus told his disciples to take the gospel message “to the ends of the earth,” they didn’t know about people living on the other side of the world. Unlike you, they didn’t have TV, the Internet, and National Geographic. And those disciples certainly had no idea of modern America with almost 300 million people. But Jesus knew. And he was serious about his command to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19). That’s because all people have something else in common—they all need Christ. And ever since then, groups of believers have spread the Word through conversations, meetings, events, missionaries, and media.

You can be part of this process. You can pray; you can give money to help support ministries and missionaries; you can share the good news with a friend. In so doing, you will be part of the team to take Christ to the ends of the earth.

“But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

To Do

The next time you see a picture of someone living at “the ends of the earth,” pray that he or she will hear the gospel, respond in faith, and find new life in Christ.

Also on this day

This is National Pasta Day.

1938—Motorcycle daredevil Robert “Evel” Knievel was born.

1979—Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.