Day 36: Made for a Mission

Missions work is rather scary to me, partly because I have never really done it as an adult. As a child in the church my step-father preached at, I can remember helping set up Backyard Bible Clubs, and in college I would have long "debates" with some of my non-believing friends about religion, but I don't know if I ever approached a non-believer as an adult with the purpose of sharing God's plan for them with them.

I think I make missions work out to be too difficult in my mind. I think of people going away on long trips to places like Haiti or the Congo and imagine spreading God's word that way, but when it comes down to it...I can do mission work right here in Terre Haute, and I don't even have to stand on a street corner to do it!

One way that I think I can take my ministry to non-believers is simply by exhibiting a Christian lifestyle and allowing how I live my life and conduct myself to speak about God and his plan for us. I had never thought about the fact that I might be the only Christian that some people ever know until Warren pointed it out. If I don't try and reach these people, who will? Maybe no one ever will, but it is all of our jobs to try. I need to learn to see missions in the positive light that Warren framed it in rather than as the burden I previously thought it was.

Thinking About My Purpose

Point to Ponder: I was made for a mission.

Verse to Remember: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

Question to Consider: What fears have kept me from fulfilling the mission God made me to accomplish? What keeps me from telling others the Good News?

I think the main thing that holds me back is that I always fear I don't know enough about the Bible, or I feel I haven't lived my life well enough or long enough as a Christian to be able to effectively minister to non-believers. What if they asked a question I couldn't answer? What if they pointed out something in my own life that wasn't so Christ-like? What if the way I approached them actually made them turn farther away from God?

I could come up with 1000 What-If scenarios, but in reality...I just need to start small and begin doing it. In fact, I think that I already am and probably don't even know it. I have been telling all kinds of people about this 40 Days of Purpose experience, and that in and of itself is missions! I need to let go of all hang-ups I have about missions work and just let God use me in the way he designed me.