Missional: The adoption of posture, thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in order to engage others with the Gospel message.
When we are on a short term mission trip, our focus is on glorifying God and witnessing to everyone we encounter every chance we get. Sleep is optional on these trips because we are too excited to save the world. We have a short amount of time to reach others before we go back to our normal life and routine. For 51 weeks out of the year, we are normal Christians, but for one week we become Christ followers and are bold and vocal in our faith. We worked hard to fund this trip and missed our annual vacation to make it happen. We take advantage of every opportunity to share the Good News with others.
This motivation normally carries over into our regular life for a few weeks after the trip before the burning desire to save the lost slowly cools down due to our busy lifestyles and obligation to our family. I am amazed at how easy it is for me to remember my purpose for living while I am on a mission trip and how easy it is to forget about it just a few weeks after I return home.
Lacey and I believe as Christ followers that we should live our lives and think like missionaries or become missional wherever we live. We challenge ourselves to treat our daily life and situations that God has placed us in as if we were on a mission trip. Mission trips present challenges that most American’s could not imagine. We are humbled by our experience and motivated to focus more on God and less on our comforts.
When Lacey and I became passionate about serving God in every thing we do, we prayed each morning for God to use us by glorifying His name to others. We prayed that we would have compassion for every person we encounter and not overlook one to get to another. We quit racing to events to minister to people while bypassing others who were already in our paths. We took out some of our hobbies to give ourselves more margin time each day to stop and talk with people who God had already placed in our life.
As a Christ follower, it is exciting and a little overwhelming to know that our every conversation or interaction can affect someones eternal destination.
However, it is also convicting to think that a lot of my interactions can be damaging to others in their walk with God if they catch me at the wrong time. I could even give them a negative perspective about God or church people because of my attitude towards them. My goal to reach certain people at outreach events can actually cause me to overlook the needs of others right in front of me.
While we were visiting In Ecuador, we learned that people are often late to meetings because they were stopped on the way by a friend or someone in need. Their culture believes that is better to be late to a meeting rather than blowing off a friend in need.
Our culture in America is more focused on the destination. Our goal is to accomplish things on our schedule and get to where we are going by avoiding situations that may slow us down. We bypass others in need as we race to our personal pleasures. We justify our actions by selecting a small amount of time each month to serve in our community.
I do not believe that we should change our culture and also believe that it is important TO BE ON TIME to events we have agreed to. However, knowing our fast pace lifestyle, we have to find ways for margin in our life so that we can fulfill our obligations while reaching others that are already in our path.
How do we do this?
To become missional, I have to pursue relationships with people I encounter even when I'm not looking for them. It is easy for me to reach others when I am preparing for trips or events that will make opportunities for me. However, will I reach others when I am exhausted or having a bad day? Will I be the authentic Christ follower I claim to be when I am late to an important meeting or just wanting some quite time?
A few months ago, while our church was having 21 days of prayer, I had the pleasure to go and seek vision for our future in a different country. We are about to move to Ecuador and my focus was on getting us there. I did not have any time for extra ministries or new friends. However, someone interrupted my quiet time and messed up my schedule. I tried to brush him off and focus on my needs, but felt convicted to respond (the next day) and learn about his walk with God. We have been meeting a couple times each week since and have both been blessed to grow in our faith.
I thank God for giving me this opportunity. This is one time that I got it right.
Although it continues to be a challenge for us, Lacey and I try to prepare for missional opportunities each day. One way we do this is by listening to salesmen who knock on our doors. They are trying to sell us cable and we can share about Jesus. Either they enjoy the conversation or they do not bother us anymore because they are tired of hearing about God.
We also try to spend time by listening to people with different beliefs. Instead of judging or condemning them, we learn about their beliefs and some of their struggles. We believe that we can't reach others until we understand what they actually believe. In fact, the easiest way for us to share is when someone ask about our faith in Jesus while we are already having a conservation with them. Also, the best way to get a Jehovah's Witness to stop knocking on your door is to respectfully listen to them, share our beliefs, and pray that God will reveal Himself to them.
We also look for opportunities when we meet people who approach us asking for help or money. Instead of brushing them off or giving them a few dollars to leave us alone, we try to understand their current situation and find a way to spiritually equip them.
I Also keep in mind that we are not preaching or condemning others as we speak boldly to them. We simply want find the most effective way to biblically encourage them which is revealed to us through the Holy Spirit if our hearts and intentions are clean and focused on God.
So what does all of this mean for our culture? Why should we be worrying about others when our salvation is already confirmed through our faith in Jesus? They have the same opportunities that we have.
Right?
We have to realize the eternal significance of our every interaction
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the Word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, ’ you will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.
Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous thing that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself. Ezekiel 3:17-22 (NIV)
As Christ followers, God has revealed His glory to us because of His grace. We did nothing to deserve it. We did nothing to earn our right of being born in the United States rather than the Middle East. Therefore, it is our obligation as Christ followers to repay God for this gift by sharing His Great News with others. If we choose not to, should we be held responsible for their eternal punishment and separation from God? If so, What should our punishment be?
Should we suffer the wrath of God because of our failure to steward the things He has blessed us with by using them to reach the lost?
I have to prepare for extra interactions each day so that we can still be on time to our scheduled plans while reaching others. We need margin time in our life and should expect things to come up. The hardest thing for me to understand is that I do not have to fill every minute of my week with stuff. I realize that it is not good in this culture to be late to events or meetings. I also realize that I cannot overlook people because it could be damaging to our eternity. I have to be careful in the things that I agree to do so that I can fulfill my commitments and still have time to stop and share with others.
I say all of these things because it is something Lacey and I are struggle with. We will be leaving in just a few months as full time missionaries to another country and it takes up a lot of our margin time to prepare ourselves for this transition. We do not want to overlook our current opportunities to invest in people, but we also do not want to weaken our great opportunity for our ministry in Ecuador. I want to do more for God, but have to properly steward the things that are in front of me. We will not get to Ecuador by bypassing people who are currently in our path.
Sometimes doing more events, equals less results.
No comments:
Post a Comment