Since before I can remember, I’ve always known that I’m a missionary. My heart burns to see those who are lost come to the knowledge of salvation and have an encounter with the One True and Living God. I have always felt drawn to several ‘places’: To Africa – there is something about the resilience, joy, hope and beauty of the African people that is unmatched anywhere else in the world. To tribes – whether in Africa or in the Amazon Rain Forest – From the time I was a little girl, the Lord has shown me, over and over again, a place out in the jungles where I know I will be one day. And, to the unreached – those who have not heard of the precious name of Jesus, but who stand before Him without excuse (according to Romans 1).
I asked the Lord one day: Why is my heart drawn to these places? Why do they consume my heart and my mind? Why do I lay awake at night seeing face of people I’ve never met and hearing the cries of the lost and the hurting? Why am I not content able to stay in America…there are people here who need You too?
Here is what He showed me…
Genesis 1:27 – So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
When God created the earth, the sun, the trees, the animals, and everything else that we know…He spoke, and out of His heart and mind came creation. When He created humanity, He used His own hands…forming and shaping us out of the dust of the earth. He made us – according to His delight and His own good pleasure. And, we are made in His image and in His likeness. That means, there is something about the image and nature of God that He hid in each culture and people-group.
Then, He asked me ‘Why is your purpose?’. I replied, ‘To know You’. And He showed me…
When I go to another culture and another people, I have the opportunity to seek out and discover the characteristics of God that He hid in that people group. When we go to the unreached, we have the opportunity to discover something about His nature that has not yet been know or seen by anyone else.
When we leave our homes and our ‘comforts’ – some may see the things that we ‘give up’ or ‘sacrifice’. Oh, but we gain so much more!! We gain Him. We know Him. We see Him. And what else is worth living for? We do not have to wait until we stand before Him at the final judgment to truly and deeply know Him. Friends, He is available to know…right now…in this life. He has hidden aspects of Himself in every different culture and people and given us the invitation to come and find Him.
Proverbs 25:2 – It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
Yes, missions is about the lost encountering their Savior. It is about hope, joy, peace, freedom, and righteousness being brought to those who are in need. But more than that…being a missionary is about Jesus – knowing Him, walking with Him, and hearing His heart.
My definition of a missionary: one with the deep seated conviction that Jesus is worth knowing above all other things and spends their life to bring others to that same knowledge.
