Month: August 2014

Do You Know Your Mission in Life?

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Just the word “mission” sounds adventuresome, doesn’t it? Life is meant to be a wonderful adventure, filled with meaning and purpose, but most people don’t know what their mission is in life. Do you? Practitioners of the soul believe that every human being has “telic” (purpose) questions embedded deep within the hearts. Questions like…

  • Who am I?
  • Who made me?
  • Why am I here?
  • Where am I going?
  • How can I know?

Until you know the true answer to these questions there will always be a void in your heart. It was the great North African bishop Augustine of Hippo who once said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” The good news is that God has answered these telic questions for us in His Word, the Bible. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt.11:28).

The key to finding your mission in life and rest for your soul is simple: you must to come to Jesus. Have you? Will you? I know that some say that at the “right time” and at the “right place,” everyone will have their “come to Jesus” moment. But how do you know if that time has come for you? There is never a “right time” or a “right place”—so the moment you hear the Gospel invitation to come, come, dear friend, at that very moment! How?

Just as [you are], without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Just as [you are], and waiting not,
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

God’s Mission, Our Mission

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Although the basic definition of the word “mission” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is simply “a task or job that someone is given to do,” we typically reserve the word for more than taking out the trash or giving the kids a bath. In the secular world, the term is primarily used for important, newsworthy tasks, such as military missions or space program missions. Most of us don’t regularly think of ourselves as being part of a mission; instead, we watch or read about others who have been, or are part of, important history-making missions.

If you are a regenerated son or daughter of the King of creation (a.k.a. a Christian), however, we need to renew our minds on this point. Every man, woman, or child who has placed faith in Jesus has been placed smack down in the middle of the longest-running, most costly, and most significant mission in history. And you and I are not just bystanders of this mission, we are crucial members of it.

What is this mission? In truth, it is one big mission comprised of millions of smaller missions. The one big mission is God’s own mission: to glorify God throughout the universe (Ps.106:7-8; Ez.36:22-23; Hab.2:14; Rom.11:36; Eph.1:3-14). The smaller missions are the various ways we glorify God in our individual lives (Matt.5:16; 1 Cor.10:31). Every war consists of battles, and every battle consists of small missions; therefore, the great mission to win a war depends upon the success of the smaller missions. In the same way, our great mission to glorify God is worked out primarily in the smaller missions He gives us every day.

The hard part for us, it seems, is to keep the great mission before us—in our minds and in our hearts—at all times. We are so easily distracted away from the mission by the busyness, or even the routineness, of our lives that we forget about our main mission. We try to go about the smaller missions without the larger mission in sight, and we sink into despondency and legalism.

What we need is to make a point of waking up every morning reminding ourselves of the great mission we are on, and go about our day recognizing the importance of every small mission we are given. We need to recognize that we can choose to glorify God by making sure He is our greatest desire; that pleasing Him through our joyful obedience is our meat and drink. We need to ask ourselves if we are actively seeking to love and encourage and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ for the purpose of bringing God glory. Are we practicing kindness, humility, patience, self-control, etc., in the home and in the workplace for the purpose of bringing God glory? Are we preaching and teaching for the purpose of bring God glory? Are we evangelizing the lost and giving to/sending/going as missionaries for the purpose of bringing God glory? Are we praying, ultimately, for the purpose of bringing God glory?

If you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are on a mission, the one great cosmic and eternal mission. And don’t forget, if you are on this mission, God has given you everything you need to accomplish the smaller missions He gives you (2 Pet.1:3).

 

 

Andy Lack serves as our Pastor of Missions. He is married to Sara and the father of two energetic boys.

I Surrender All

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According to Forbes magazine, Bill Gates reclaimed his #1 ranking as the richest man in the world. He’s worth a reportedly $72.7 billion dollars! If Bill Gates were a country, he would be the 37th wealthiest country on earth. If he lives to be 90 years old, he needs to spend $6 million dollars a day to exhaust his wealth. How do you spend that much money daily? If he gave everyone on earth $10, he would still be worth $2.6 billion. He has also given away about $28 billion to eradicate childhood diseases in third world countries.

So, why do I share this opening paragraph? Because even though in a worldly sense it sounds impressive, his wealth and generosity, when compared to the wealth and riches of God, makes him a pauper. Everything he is and has was created by God, and all of his life—and ours—is sustained by, gifted by, and held together by the generosity of God.

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”—Colossians 1:16-17

This perfect picture of the generosity of God oftentimes collides with the default position of our hearts: complaining about what we don’t have or think we deserve versus what He has already generously lavished upon us (Eph.1:7; 1 Pet.1:3-4).

As I learn to pursue a simpler and surrendered life, I see how I have been conditioned to behave like everyone else and take good things (career success, love, family, material possessions, etc.) and make them idols in my heart; unknowingly thinking that they can give me significance and security, safety and fulfillment, is a lie. It’s a societal sickness and one of misplaced priorities that can only be healed by a heart transformed by Christ that daily seeks Him. So, I will share with you the questions I ask myself and seek to make a habit of:

  • Do I own anything that I would not be willing to part with if God were to take it from me or ask me to give it to another?
  • Do I give generously, sacrificially, and gladly give to the Lord’s work and to others in need?
  • Am I a wise steward of the material resources God has entrusted to me?
  • Do I view God as my provider and the source of all my material possessions?
  • Do I give my tithes and offerings to the Lord before I pay my bills or spend my income?
  • Am I content with the material resources God has given me?

As we wrestle with this issue in our lives, let us keep the eternal perspective that will always take us back to our true mission and purpose on this earth: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

 

Kimberly Allen serves as the Children’s Ministry Director and Ministry Administrator. She is the mother of two adult children.