Monday, October 26, 2015

"Have Bible - Will Travel" Accepting Your Call To Missions

My Utmost For His Highest

“Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."” —John 20:21

“A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is […] the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. […]  The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans. […] We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).” CHAMBERS

The words “missions” and “missionary” are not in the Bible.  “The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem (nom. missio), meaning "act of sending" or mittere, meaning "to send".” (Wikipedia)   No matter where the words come from,  the command to go, the idea of being sent is clear.  Jesus said go … but go where?  (Acts 1:8) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The principle at work here is that we (none of us) are not to keep our faith to ourselves.  We are to share the Gospel with our families, our friends, our neighbors.  Imagine concentric circles (circles inside of circles).  The innermost circle is our family and the outermost circle is the uttermost parts of the earth.  We tend to associate missions with those outermost circles.  That is where missionaries go to do what they do.  The truth is that we are all called to be witnesses … to go … maybe only as far as our living room … but maybe to a grass hut.  Each of us must listen to and obey the voice of God in this matter. 

Unfortunately, many times we think of the work of missions as something for the “hired guns”.  People who will do our work for us, so then all we have to do is pray and give money to be obedient to the Lord’s command.  There was a television show on many years ago called “Paladin”, he had business cards that said “Have gun – will travel”.  For the right cause and for the right money, Paladin would go to right wrongs.  For the missionaries their cards might say “Have Bible – Will travel” with the difference is that they go for the cause of Christ – the Gospel and not for the money.  But, helping others fulfill their call to go and serve in the uttermost parts does not absolve us of our to missions to serve closer to or at home.  Each of us has a responsibility to be witnesses wherever the Lord might call us to.  Think about it.  ELGIN


Charley Elgin

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