Intimacy, Community, Mission. The heartbeat of the World Race.
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about vision. Maybe it has something to do with beginning a new year. On the world race, our vision is deeply connecting to Jesus and His movement in the areas of intimacy, community, and mission.
In reflecting on these things from the first 3 months of my race in South America, I wanted to share how I have grown closer to the vision in intimacy with the Father, community with my squad, and missions around the world.
My first thought on these things… God has called followers into each of these things, and they are meant to be in order. AKA, God’s first priority in your life is intimacy and worship to God. He wants a personal relationship with YOU. Next, He calls us into communal living. The bible talks about believers having community (the church) over 100 times. God values community almost as much as intimacy. He calls us brothers and sisters, adopted into His kingdom (Matt 22:37-40). Lastly, missions exist because worship doesn’t. God wants all of creation to know and worship Him, and He has commissioned us to tell the world about Him (Matt 28:18-20)!
Intimacy: I have grown very close with the Lord the past few months. Turns out, the more you lean on Him for everything, the more you get to know the God of the universe! So fun! God loves me in a special way, and I have gotten to see so many acts of love from Father through answered prayers, whisper of Holy Spirit, and promises fulfilled. His Word is alive and will speak when you open it for yourself!
Community: This one is a hard one. Community means desiring unity in all things. It means loving people more than yourself. It means a servant’s heart posture. It means being a Peacemaker not a Peacekeeper. Being a peacemaker means having true peace, not conflict avoidance. Sometimes speaking the truth in love is hard (often) but having conflict with the goal to have unity is good! I am learning to not be afraid of conflict, but instead have hard conversations. I am learning how to love my brothers and sisters as Christ does. Even as an extravert, living in community is hard, but it is so worth it!
Missions: I have grown in my calling to missions through the wisdom of missionaries I have met on the field. I am constantly learning how to effectively share the gospel in many different ways to many different people groups. I am also constantly learning more about the cultures I am living in, which in turn helps me to love my neighbors here well. Loving people and understanding them is the primary goal in missions! I am so thankful for these new friends I have in Peru and Argentina.
Thanks God!
