1 John 4:7
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.”
The phrase is ringing in my ears.
“It’s our last day of ministry.”
Heck, even I’m guilty of saying those tainted words.
But I got to thinkin’.
Why is it our last day? That doesn’t make any sense, does it?
Did I come on this “missions trip” just for a year? Is that all it is? A missions trip that starts and ends as I please?
It can’t be. There’s no way. It doesn’t calculate to look at it that way.
I’ve spent a year zeroed in on one thing; loving like Jesus does.
If you look at His life, He didn’t have “ministry days”. Even on His “off days” He did ministry. (John 9:10-16) His whole life was ministry. He is ministry.
If I’m His chosen child and I have dedicated my life to imitate His, then it only makes sense.
It’s simple math.
One + one = two.
Ministry is not ending today.
Ministry is not something that I get to turn on and off like a microwave.
It’s a common misconception that we get confused in.
We think to ourselves, a missions trip is to go serve the third world countries and have pity on them. *
When actually, that’s the farthest thing from reality.
That’s not what Jesus did.
Jesus was constantly on mission.
He was constantly loving people. In John 15:13 we read that the laying down of our life for our friends is the greatest act of love.
Skip down 2 verses to John 15:15-17 and we read that we are no longer servants like we used to be, but rather we are His chosen friends that are asked to love one another.
Jesus loved us, His friends, unconditionally.
Sometimes that looked like traveling around to spend time with different people groups.
Sometimes it looked like spending the day in the temple at His Fathers feet.
Sometimes it looked like praying over people.
And other times, it looked like Him having a meal with His disciples.
His love took many different forms and therefore His ministry filled the mold from day to day.
By definition Jesus is love. (1 John 4:8)
Why do you think the first fruit of the Spirit is love? Because it is the overarching theme in His character. (Galations 5:22)
In Matthew 22:37 Jesus tells us that the single most important commandment is to love our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. Then He says “A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law & all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
That wasn’t supposed to turn into a cliché for the world to taint. That golden command was a piece of His heart for us.
If you want to know more about His heart, love is a straight shot highway in defining His character.
Therefore, if I claim that I am His child and I own my residency in His friendship with me, then wouldn’t it make sense to live like Him?
And if living is to love like Him, then loving like Him is to simultaneously be a missionary, a communicator and a friend for Him.
No matter where I might be.
So, there is no such thing as a last ministry day.
Every day is a loving day and it can be as Spiritual or mundane as you want it to be.
Personally, I’m gonna go with the everyday, on my feet, ready to praise, loving the heck outta the people around me.
Stateside and internationally.
*{while serving the third world is necessary and completely from His heart, we can’t let that confine our outreach. Some are called to be overseas and some are stationed in the states. Each is different, but we must remember the example that He passed onto us; the simple act of love is the ultimate ministry. I’m so thankful for all of you out there that are loving in His name and have already figured out that being a missionary is our occupation everyday.}
