Lately I have been thinking about what it means to be a missionary. Why do I feel called to be a missionary? Why am I on this crazy thing called the World Race? I have learned there are many types of missionaries. In the jungle of Ecuador we worked with Pastor Ivan who had a heart for all the people of Huaticocha to come to know the Lord. In Peru we worked with Joca and Claudia who were young adults who desired to see the children/youth of Trujillo grow up and see the grace and love of the Lord. And now in Bolivia, we are in the midst of a great organization started and run by families from America. All of these are missionaries whether they are native or foreign, single or married, young or old. The Lord has called them all and they have been obedient to listen!
Every day I read a devotion by Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest” and today’s was titled “The Missionary’s Goal”. Here is a little excerpt:
In our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord himself. We start with Christ and we end with him—“…till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. The goal of the missionary is to do God’s will, not to be useful or to win the lost. A missionary is useful and he does win the lost, but that is not his goal. His goal is to do the will of his Lord.
This is why I am here in Bolivia on month 3 of the World Race. This is why the Lord has me away from home for 11 months. He has called me to do His will. And though great things will happen these 11 months; lives will be saved, the Kingdom of heaven will be expanding, there will be healings and blessings and people will thank us for coming. The greatest thing to come from this trip is my obedience to the Lord. To follow Him wherever He may lead me. To listen to His calling for my life. And nothing could make me more happy than to be following the Lord.
