This morning I spent four hours raking and bagging leaves to raise money for a NYC mission trip. It of course made me think of the trip which caused me to think about missions in general. That is, what we've made missions to be. I was thinking about how when Jesus sent out His disciples, He didn't send them out for a week. They weren't gone for a month, or a year or even two years. They made that their life. It's easy to brush that off and justify our self absorbed lifestyles by saying that it was easier for them than it would be for us. Is it? Do we have half as much faith in God as they did?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I finally came to a conclusion. Missions needs to be a lifestyle for us, not just a once or twice a year deal. If we believe the Bible, then we believe that all believers are called to be witnesses. Maybe God has specifically called you to Africa. Does that mean your going to ignore the lost people in your neighborhood and at your school? It shouldn't. I hate that when people think about missions, they tend to think along the lines of trips. It shouldn't only be about a trip. However if you must think of it like that, let's remember that earth is not our home so while we are on this "trip" let's think more towards where we are going then where we are. Shall we?
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Beautiful Footprints
Romans 10:14-15 - "How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"
I absolutely love that verse. I love how it narrows down the description of what preaching and witnessing should be like. We obviously shouldn't hop on mission trips simply because we like the location but I don't think that being called is emphasized nearly enough. I recently had a conversation with a friend who told me that she was going on a mission trip because she prayed about it. I waited for her to go on and tell me that God had specifically called her but she didn't. Is that all missions have become? If we pray about it and don't get struck down by fire then we assume that God must be calling us? I just don't understand. I highly recommend this verse to anyone considering and praying about missions.
I also love the last part of the verse, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." I got to read this verse to a group of girls on our Thanksgiving mission trip to Atlanta. A few girls were complaining of sore and blistered feet after we had taken a city walk on the first day and then helped at the SHO Chili Outreach the next day. At first we all had a good laugh about how "beautiful" their feet were but then I think it sort of hit all of us. As Christians we have good news, we should be bringing it to those around us. Our feet weren't beautiful in the sense that we had new Jimmy Choo's and pedicures, they were beautiful because that day God had used them to bring good news.
In all actuality no one's feet were that bad, nothing a band-aid wouldn't fix. It made me think about the disciples feet and how beautiful they must have been. I mean we aren't talking two hour city walks around nice, paved Atlanta. They walked from city to city on dirt roads wearing sandals. Talk about leaving some beautiful footprints! What kind of footprints are we leaving?
I absolutely love that verse. I love how it narrows down the description of what preaching and witnessing should be like. We obviously shouldn't hop on mission trips simply because we like the location but I don't think that being called is emphasized nearly enough. I recently had a conversation with a friend who told me that she was going on a mission trip because she prayed about it. I waited for her to go on and tell me that God had specifically called her but she didn't. Is that all missions have become? If we pray about it and don't get struck down by fire then we assume that God must be calling us? I just don't understand. I highly recommend this verse to anyone considering and praying about missions.
I also love the last part of the verse, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." I got to read this verse to a group of girls on our Thanksgiving mission trip to Atlanta. A few girls were complaining of sore and blistered feet after we had taken a city walk on the first day and then helped at the SHO Chili Outreach the next day. At first we all had a good laugh about how "beautiful" their feet were but then I think it sort of hit all of us. As Christians we have good news, we should be bringing it to those around us. Our feet weren't beautiful in the sense that we had new Jimmy Choo's and pedicures, they were beautiful because that day God had used them to bring good news.
In all actuality no one's feet were that bad, nothing a band-aid wouldn't fix. It made me think about the disciples feet and how beautiful they must have been. I mean we aren't talking two hour city walks around nice, paved Atlanta. They walked from city to city on dirt roads wearing sandals. Talk about leaving some beautiful footprints! What kind of footprints are we leaving?
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