Have you ever wanted to be a missionary?
I have. I thought I’d be a missionary elsewhere - specifically Belize, where I got the coins above - and I had a picture of what it would look like. The things I would spend my days doing, the boldness I would naturally have to tell everyone about Jesus (because becoming a missionary automatically means you’re bold, right? ;))
Maybe you’ve thought the same thing, or maybe you are a missionary right now in a place outside your birth country. I’m writing this as an American to fellow Americans, but hopefully those of you in other countries will benefit as well.
We are living in a time that’s unfamiliar. It’s nerve-wracking, uncomfortable, strange, and sometimes plain ol’ scary. We’ve gone from normal to not-normal pretty quick, and if you haven’t come to grips with this yet I’ll be the one to tell you: it isn’t going back to normal. Because God is always Lord, not going back to normal will be okay. But it has been and will be quite an adjustment.
Look around, what do you see?
Fear? Panic? Lust for evil? Addiction? Injustice? Hatred, betrayal, anxiety?
This year, the great 2020, people have been pushed to limits and stretched out far. When we are pressed, what’s deep inside is that which comes out. If people don’t have Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit is not what comes out!
As we wonder what things will look like in our country, and as we see what is unfolding, I want to encourage you.
The balm for all of this is not our government. The government has a role, but it is not savior. Jesus Christ is Savior, and the balm that we all need.
So while we fight for good politics and leaders, we also need to realize that people desperately need Jesus. We are missionaries - here, right now.
I believe we will have more opportunities to share our hope than we’ve had before. It is very evident now who is truly at peace and who is not. What’s the reason for your peace? How can you have hope and purpose as the world is falling apart?
We have a Savior who strengthens us through even the hardest challenges. We can feel the panic and shed the tears, but we can continue on knowing that we are safe in Christ. We can do our daily duties knowing that they are worthwhile to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things — that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed (Titus 2:1-5).
This exhortation doesn’t change with the times! Are you an older woman? Hopefully you know how this section applies to your life, and if I may say - we younger women need you to follow this! We desperately need Godly women in our lives, and we need you to take your role seriously. Reach out, invite us over, offer to stop by with coffee and chat. Many of us want to learn and have Godly examples. Encourage us with your testimonies of God’s faithfulness in your life!
Are you a younger woman, like me? Let’s not push the older women away or roll our eyes at their suggestions and stories. Let’s invite them in where appropriate, and learn to appreciate their wisdom and God-given role in our lives. Along with this, we are given the rest of that passage; love our husbands and children, be self-controlled and pure (ESV), homemakers, kind and submissive to our husbands. This is where our faithfulness and duty to the Lord starts: with our families. With the world around us fraying at the seams, it is ever more clearly important that we serve wholeheartedly in our homes. Our days of prepping meals, teaching math, doing laundry, and listening to our husband’s challenges are not in vain, they are faithful service. They truly are beautiful deeds if done for the Lord.
And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward (Matthew 10:42).
How many drinks do you hand out during the day?! We know God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7) and one who gives freely without expecting anything in return. When you pass out drinks and plates of food, do it cheerfully and with thanksgiving! The Lord has given you opportunities today to serve on His behalf.
Beyond the walls of our own homes, we have friends and family and neighbors who desperately need the goodness of the Lord. They need to know that all of us have fallen short of God’s standards, and we need a Savior. We need a Savior to rescue us from our bondage to sin - and those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord know that He is the most wonderful, gracious, complete Savior!
Here is our chance, friends. Talk with your neighbors and get to know them. Let the neighborhood kids come play in your yard, and pass out cups of water to them too. Bake goodies with your kids and deliver them to elderly men and women, or to families who haven’t left their houses in weeks. We don’t all have to be on the same page politically to be able to serve and show Christ’s love. Let others see the freedom you have in Christ, and that they can have it too.
Invite people over for meals with no strings attached. Help with someone’s yard work, and do it joyfully. Call relatives you haven’t seen for a while, just to chat.
Yes, it’s work. But we are called to reach out on behalf of Christ, and it is good work! It is sanctifying work, work that makes us more like Jesus and blesses others at the same time. It is living out the Gospel, and it is rough and messy and absolutely beautiful. Don’t be afraid to spend your life for the sake of the Gospel. In fact, do it!
In this trying time, may we cling more to the Word of God and be people who do what it says. Now is the time for us to be missionaries, right where we are and with increased fervor.
I am praying for you, reader, as we go at this together!
