When was your last mission trip, be that domestic or abroad? Have you been abandoning your desires both from home and the very uncomfortable places you are called to GO, such as the inner city, a 3rd world country, or other tough areas?
I want you to know that it is God’s will that you GO. God does have a specific and unique plan for your life, but that good plan will never omit God’s will laid our for all believers in the Bible. And the great commission, Matthew 28:19-20 says “Therefore 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I am not saying that you are necessarily called to an 11 month mission trip that goes to 11 different countries, or that you need to pick up and move to the bush in Africa (though you may be called to that). I am; however, telling you that if you call yourself a follower of Christ, you are called to missions. Even if this entails 1 week a year of going to the poorest area within a couple hours drive of your house with the intent of spreading the gospel, you are called to missions.
Again, God has a specific, sweet plan for you. But that plan for sure includes the things written to all believers such as 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” And 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified…” The great commission, the 10 commandments, and other scripture outline the way believers need to live.
My heart is breaking for the lost out here. I am in a country with upwards of one billion children of God, but only a small fraction has claimed their sonship/daughtership. There is so much spiritual darkness in this world, and you are the light.
I love the progressive rhetorical questions Paul poses when speaking of the masses in Romans 10:14-15, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” They need you to bring the good news.
The real question of our daily living is: Does our lives reflect the way Christ lived during his time on earth? Does it? The way He loved, His compassion, his travels from place to place to declare that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Please let me again reiterate that because God’s presence lives within your body, you are a missionary wherever you go. You are a missionary to your family, friends, people you see at the grocery store, as well as the lost, the destitute, orphans and widows.
So live in that. Wherever you go, God’s Spirit is in you. He will protect and provide… and He will tell you to GO.
Merry Christmas!
