Molding my ministry mindset
I didn’t really expect much out of Palenque, to be honest. With a ministry of going to church and little more, I wondered what was the point of spending so much money and time to just…be there. What’s the point if you can’t go deep with people because you don’t speak their language well? What’s the point if you’re not doing physical work to bless them somehow? What’s the worth in this world?
Less than a month in Palenque, and the lesson began to reveal itself. It’s a lesson that I’ll keep learning for the next ten months of short-term missions on the Race.
It’s not about our work or about our doing. It’s not even about our willingness as Racers to “go” to the nations. It’s not about our sacrifices of comfort or putting family and friends on the line for a while.
It IS about our willingness to serve the Lord WHEREVER we go and in WHATEVER we do. No matter how meaningless our presence seems to in earthly aspects, the important thing is that we as Racers (and all Christians, everywhere) are ambassadors for Christ. Wherever we go, we BRING CHRIST. We invite the Holy Spirit to travel with us. We pray for the people we meet and the places we go, and we ask the Lord to make HIS heart known there.
There’s a strange conflict of interest arising in my heart. On one side I know that this trip is not “about me” or about my experience; it’s about God and what He is doing through this earth. But on the other side, I came on the Race with total expectations of change. While I know the trip is not about me, there is inevitable change happening that I cannot not share. I want to become more like Jesus, and I believe the Race will teach me a little bit more about how to do that.
So how does this conflict play out? I’m learning, as I mentioned before, that the Race is an opportunity to see God working in places…to invite His Holy Spirit to come with us and ask Him to move on people’s hearts. Nothing I’m doing will change anything or anyone on this earth (like Mario). Yet while this Race is not about me, I am ready and willing for transformation.
I started writing this blog with one thing in mind, and another has come through. I ask for grace as I go from here, trying to figure out how to resolve the conflict of interest. How do I remain open to being changed and molded, yet also keep my focus on Jesus and not on how my own views are changing?
