After travelling around the world for five months, the question has entered
my mind: Is this worth my time, is it all a waste? Sometimes I am so busy
working that I hardly have time to reflect on the month that just whizzed by.
Sometimes I have so much time on my hands that my thoughts drift back to home,
family and holidays. There are days that the work I am doing is personally
satisfying and then there are days where I feel what I’m doing is mundane or
possibly counter-productive. The people that I’m travelling with at times are
wonderfully inspiring, encouraging and plain fun to be around. Then there are
times where I wish I could drag them to the nearest cliff and watch their body
tumble over the edge as I dance with glee. Well, maybe things aren’t that bad,
but we do have our difficult days. There are days where I’ve wanted to pack up,
call it quits and take the next international flight into the New York City
metro area and get on with my life.
So, to answer the question of whether mission work is a fool’s errand or a
noble task, you really have to ask yourself what exactly a missionary is. As
far as I understand it, a missionary is someone who is sent somewhere to
represent someone else and that person’s mission. So as a missionary, I
represent someone else and the usefulness of my work is likely determined by
whether I’m representing a fool or a nobleman. If I’m representing a fool, I
probably should pack up and go home now. But if the person I represent is a
person of noble heart and a worthy mission, then quitting now would certainly be
a greater waste of my time.
Lately I have been reading the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel. This book
records the beginning of the history of the kings of Israel, the first to be
Saul and after him, David. Saul messed up royally, making a complete mess of
things and lost the right to rule. David, however, was found to be a man who
was blameless and of a noble heart before God. So, David was destined to become
the King of Israel, but before this happened he was chased out of his country by
his enemies and forced into hiding and exile. While he was in exile, it is
written that “everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and
everyone who was bitter in soul and discontent gathered to David and he became
captain over them.” Later, is was said of these people that they were
“worthless fellows.” So, in effect, the people of David’s nation, over whom he
was destined to rule, forced him into exiled. While he was in exile, worthless
people rallied to him and fought his battles for him and went out on missions
for him. Eventually, David became King over all Israel and these “worthless
fellows” who believed in David more than his own people were given places of
honor in his kingdom.
As missionaries, most of us have our distresses, debts and discontents. We
really don’t have our acts together, we’re not the rich and accomplished of this
world. We aren’t people who would be given honors or great titles back in our
own lands. We aren’t incredibly strong, we aren’t eloquent speakers
necessarily, we aren’t ingenious strategists who know how to change the world
for the better. We honestly can’t say much about ourselves. But, we represent
a King who has gone into exile who has a right to rule the nations. All these
“worthless missionaries” have banded together with Jesus Christ as a captain
over all of us. While He is gone from this earth, we fight his battles and go
on the missions that He sends us on to represent His Name and His interests in
the earth. We preach the good news, we preach the coming of His Kingdom and His
return, we preach His victory over sin and death. We administer justice,
righteousness, faithfulness and mercy. We are preparing for His reign, we wait
for the rightful heir of the Kingdoms to come and take His seat over them.
This is the message proclaimed by the ancient prophets, Jesus Christ and his
apostles and the church for thousands of years. It will continue to be the
message of Jesus Christ until the day of His return, when He begins to establish
his Kingdom upon the earth and give places of honor to those who served Him on
earth while He was in exile.
When that day comes, you can ask me if my task as a missionary was foolish or
noble. I tell you now, in as much as the name of Jesus Christ is deserving of
honor, my mission to give honor to Jesus Christ is not in vain. But I will let
that day speak for me, the day when the name of Jesus Christ is vindicated
before the whole world. As Christians everywhere have prayed for millennia as
they look forward to the return of their King: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in
heaven.”
