As we have looked into the prospect of going on this mission trip we have been very convicted about the idols in our lives. As we really take a look at what an idol we have found that seemingly good things (what the world and sometimes the church say are good things) may have actually become idols in our life.
Here is how I define an idol: Anything that is more important than God and/or keeps you from doing what God wants. With this as our definition we had to do some major soul searching to figure out what to do next.
As we looked at our lives we listed off some of the inanimate objects that may be possible idols: TV, computer, tablet, video game, etc. Then we started to examine the unseen idols of our life such as: financial security, comfort, approval of others, career advancement, and even family and friends. As we initially began looking into going on a mission trip it was this second list that really held us back. It seemed that all the things that were making us second guess this calling fit into one of these categories, the biggest being financial security and family.
We still have a lot of concerns regarding our financial security with going on this trip. We have always been very fiscally responsible and have saved a comfortable emergency fund, we have a mortgage that we can comfortably afford, and have never felt like we were living pay check to paycheck. And we were suppose to give that up for a trip? It seems the answer is both yes and no. We aren't suppose to give it up for a trip or an experience, we are suppose to give it up for God. At this point we honestly have no idea how our expenses are going to be covered, and we are pretty sure we will have little to no money in our account when we come home. But what we have learned is that to give something up as an idol we have to get to the point that we are willing to give up reliance on one thing so we can learn to rely solely on God.
This was a little harder with family. What kind of person gives up their family? But strangely enough we found that this was something we had to be willing to do. We were holding back on leaving because we did not want to miss out on family events. We always do our best to be at any event that we are aware of, and we were going to miss an entire year of this. We will have to leave our dogs, and at this point they are our babies and it breaks our heart to leave them. And we have also experienced various family members along the way showing resistance to the idea of us going out into the mission field, and it was really hard to go the opposite direction. But in the end after discussing it we decided that this is what our call is, and maybe what God is calling us to do is stop being lead by what our loved ones want and instead be lead solely by Him. We had to be willing to upset people and even say that if our relationship never recovers it will be worth it because God's will is more important. On some levels it remains to be seen what will happen, but we know that God has it under control.
I am certainly not saying that we have this whole “You shall have no other gods before me” thing down. We absolutely don't. We struggle with these unseen idols daily, however so far in our journey we have learned more about dying to these desires for the sake of Christ. Our prayer is that as we continue on this path with the desire to grow closer to Christ we will continually learn to let go of the idols that we have built up in our lives.
I truly believe that we do not have to give up all the things that we hold dear in our lives, as long as they are not keeping us from wholeheartedly serving the Lord as He is calling us to do. But I also believe that as we wholeheartedly pursue service to the Lord, the things we hold dear with drastically change.
