BOOM. Yes I just said that. And yes I do mean that.
It is 100% true: The World Race has not changed my life.
I hate to disappoint all of you, but I’d rather be transparent than sit behind a veneer of good intentions.
Upon signing up for the World Race, there were undoubtedly constant comments about how “this was going to change my life forever.”
So inevitably, I am expecting this thing to rock my world. I am expecting this trip to noticeably alter me.
But I have a reality check:
The World Race has not changed my life.
It has certainly afforded me amazing opportunities to meet people all over the world. It has allowed me to do meaningful work for the Gospel in nations I would never dream of going to otherwise.
But…I have to say:
Zero life change.
And some people are gong to read this and say, “What a spoiled brat! This chick fundraised to go on this thing and is now complaining it hasn’t changed her life?”
Well, here’s another reality check:
Mission trips do not change people.
They don’t.
It is COMPLETELY possible to come on a mission trip, help people, take some pictures, come home, change your profile picture, act “different” for a few weeks, and fall back into the same patterns of self you were in as before you left.
It’s not only possible, but for many people, it’s EXACTLY what happens.
And I’m going to tell you why:
Mission trips do not change people. There is only One Thing in the entire universe that truly changes a person and that’s not spending a month in Africa with orphans or feeding the hungry in Eastern Europe.
The ONLY Thing that can alter a person is the man Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the man who looked at the damned human condition and said,
“Apart from Me, you CANNOT change. Apart from Me, you are a SLAVE to sin. Apart from Me, you cannot be in communion with the Father and in that know WHO you are. Apart from Me, you cannot have LIFE.
Jesus Christ looked at our condition, and HE DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Jesus Christ came on the most important mission trip in the history of the world to save YOU; to save ME. He came on the only mission trip in human existence with the results that ACTUALLY transform people.
Because you see, the results of Jesus’ mission trip is that He died on a tree so that you and I could have the Tree of Life again. He didn’t come to make us better people. He came to CHANGE us in a way we were incapable of doing on our own. He can to take us from DEATH to LIFE.
ONLY by Jesus giving us life can any change occur. You can go on a mission trip every year for the rest of your life and still be dead inside apart from His Breath being breathed into your lungs.
And THAT truth with slap you and kiss you all at the same time.
Unlike a fleeting moment, when the Holy Spirit grips your soul with a sliver of His truth, that’s not something that can easily pass away with the inevitable undulations of life. Furthermore, when the Lover of our Souls reveals a foretaste of eternity to us, that’s not mere rhetoric or principle: that’s LIFE being birthed inside your very being.
And that’s why the World Race has not changed my life: JESUS has.
Please don’t be fooled. My pictures are beautiful. The people I have met are beautiful. The places I have visited are beautiful. The work we are partaking in is beautiful.
But apart from the touch of Jesus Christ on my life, it means NOTHING. Apart from the touch of Jesus Christ on my soul, it’s USELESS. Apart from the inner change of Jesus Christ on my heart, it WILL fade.
Mission trips are a wonderful TOOL. But they are not the Savior. There is ONLY One. And He’s the One Who took our place. He’s the One Who died to give us life.
Change has a name and it’s JESUS. Life has a name and it’s JESUS.
You won’t find it anywhere else, even on a missions trip.
Jesus. Only Jesus.
