I'm piggy backing on the post I posted this week from the girl who lives in Uganda. She really got me thinking about what being a Christian really means. It was refreshing to read what she wrote about how being a Christian does not mean you are comfortable. Carrying your cross daily might not actually mean living in a nice house and going to work every day. When Jesus carried His cross to Calvary it was not a pretty picture, so why do we always think that we can carry our cross in the nice pretty suburbs? Jesus says "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19 Granted I realize that America is also a nation, but what about all of the other ones?! He says ALL nationS. Not just one nation. I know that some of us are called to stay here and witness to people here, but when I look around, I feel like there are a heck of a lot of Christians who are doing their "mission" work here. I say this because I have always been this person. I have felt like I can tell people about God right here in the comfort of my own home, but how often does that really happen? I don't think Jesus meant that maybe once every two weeks we were supposed to tell someone about Him. I think he meant that we are supposed to be teling people about Him and His Dad ALL OF THE TIME!
Now, I know that some of you are thinking, "But there have to be those of us who send the missionaries. Someone has to provide the financial support." As someone who is going to be needing that financial support in the near future, I have to say that I am grateful for it and will happily accept it, but WHAT IF WE WERE ALL MISSIONARIES? What if some of us (some of us not all of us) stayed here and witnessed to people every day all the time, and the rest of us went out to all of the other nations in this world and shared about Christ's love. What if we worked in those countries alongside people and shared about the greatest gift ever? What if we made enough money to live with the people we were witnessing to instead of down the street in a safer more comfortable place. What if we made the same amount of money they made? Then we wouldn't need the financial support because we would all be doing it together.
Now, I am the first to say that this does not sound fun, and maybe I'm wrong. Maybe missionaries do need to be financially supported so that they can spend all of their time focusing on telling others about Christ, but at the same time couldn't we do that while working alongside the farmer, or the women carrying water from the nearby well?
I don't know. These are all just thoughts I have been having lately. I know that good works don't get you into heaven, but God's word says, Luke 9:57-62, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my Father.” Jesus said to Him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you Lord, but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts His hand to the plow and looks back will be fit to enter the Kingdom of God.” That's some pretty serious stuff. I just fear that a lot of us look at being a Christian as a side job when Jesus clearly states that it is supposed to be our life.
So, what if we were all missionaries? Arent we all supposed to be missionaries?
3 comments:
Hey friend! So glad to find you have a blog! I will definitely enjoy reading what you've been thinking about. Let's have a phone date soon--do you use skype?
Sarah F. Decorvet :)
Based on some of the stuff our small group is reading in Acts, it seems that there were different types of "missionaries" - those who went, those who sent and those who stayed and were an example to everyone in their corner of the world.
I think the problem is exactly what you pointed out - Too many Christians are content being comfortable and 1) Those that should be going, aren't and/or 2) Those would should be staying but actively influencing those around them aren't doing it.
As I read verses like the one you mentioned in Luke, what I keep coming back to is that we honestly have NO CLUE and not enough living examples of what it really means to follow Christ. Christians have gotten really lazy and really bad at following Christ and now there is a whole ton of us who have no idea what that tangibly looks like. Yes, we need to look at the scripture for guidance, but it is difficult when we don't have many good examples to follow and instead are surrounded by Christians telling us its okay to be comfortable. And when we are comfortable, it is so much easier to forget/ignore that we are supposed to be witnessing constantly. Whereas, if you a serving in a tribe in Africa, you are constantly reminded of the need to witness.
I fear we as Christians are SO lost and don't even know it.
There is so much more that I want to say, but I can't find the words.
"What if we made enough money to live with the people we were witnessing to instead of down the street in a safer more comfortable place. What if we made the same amount of money they made? Then we wouldn't need the financial support because we would all be doing it together."
This is a really great thought Sarah. Thank you for challenging me!
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