Everyone should be a missionary. I’m just going to put that out there. I know in my heart that anyone who reads the Bible would have an immediate understanding that as Christians, our calling is to go out into the field and create disciples. There is evidence spread all throughout those holy pages. The most popular reference though is found in Matthew 28:16-20. Jesus gathers His disciples and leaves them with a few important words before ascending to Heaven.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
And there you have it. Straight from Jesus’ mouth, through Matthew, through a translator, fast forward a couple thousand years and probably a couple more translators to the company that printed your Bible that you handpicked off a Mardels shelf and you are basically hearing that straight from Jesus himself.
So Jesus’ last words on Earth were “go and make disciples of all nations.” It seems to me that if someone comes back from the dead to tell me something, it must be pretty important. And it is. Because we are first and foremost called to love God. And this love for our Heavenly Father naturally turns into love for others. And this love for others will drive us to want to spread the Good News! Easy peasy right?!
Okay now you’re probably thinking “this girl must be crazy! She thinks that everyone can just quit their job, stuff their belongings into a backpack and travel across the nations??”
And my answer is a resounding YES! everyone can do this because through Him, anything is possible. However, going out into the field does not necessarily mean traveling across the world. Sometimes our “field” can be next door! I think this is where most of us fall short. We are called to a life of love. And to me, the simplest way to love someone is to share the gospel. Sometimes the person next to us needs to hear this truth just as much as someone halfway across the world.
But don’t get me wrong here. I know how hard it is to sit down with that girl from work and try to explain how much Jesus loves her. It’s actually something I’m working on – openly sharing my faith to whoever, whenever. Lord knows, this probably won’t be an issue after the World Race.
God made us to glorify Him. And we can glorify Him by enjoying the world He has created for us. I’m talking about the full enjoyment of the majesty of creation and the consummation of that enjoyment being praise and glorification for our Heavenly Father.
John Piper has a book called Desiring God and it talks about the idea of Christian hedonism. No worries if I’ve already lost you. Christian hedonism? Exactly how I felt when I picked it up. However, Piper has never disappointed me before so I decided to trust him yet again.
He explains that as Christians, our mission is to satisfy our every need, fulfill our happiness and enjoy life. There’s a catch though (not really a catch, more like a blessing). That satisfaction can only be found in the Lord. I know I know. Obvious, right? But do we truly do this for ourselves? Do we truly seek the ultimate happiness found in God? I mean I just told you the secret to ultimate happiness. And there’s a 90% chance that if you’re reading this, you probably agree or see some glimmer of truth in that.
My point is why do we make everything so much harder for ourselves? We may live in a broken world, but it’s beautiful and filled with gifts from our creator that I fully plan on enjoying so that I may in turn, glorify Him. Because real freedom and real fulfillment comes from giving everything we have to God. And by letting ourselves be crushed and humbled by the glory of God.
This humbling praise for our perfect and Holy Father should naturally turn us into missionaries who cannot be held back by the things of this world. We should overflow with the good news of blood bought promises. So I challenge you to listen for your missionary calling. Maybe it’s traveling across the world to an unknown nation. Maybe it’s just simply loving that unlovable person at work. Either way – go and make disciples.
So thank you for helping me go…
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” – Philippians 4:4
