Missional Living

   Oswald J. Smith once said “we talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” On March 3^rd I began an excursion to a new place: Puerto Rico. It was my first ever mission trip and it was my first time on a plane. Needless to say, there were a lot of firsts on this trip. This trip also got me thinking about a lot of things.

   Every year at Lancaster Bible College there is a week set aside to talk about missions. It is called Missions Conference week. Different activates are set up for us to do; and missionaries come. Each year the theme is pretty much the same message: some are called to go, others to send, and others to pray. Honestly, you kind of become numb to it because of how much we talk about missions. Not that I am saying missions is a bad thing. What I am saying is I never felt called to missions in another country. People can be missionaries wherever they are at.

   Romans 10:13-15 talks about how people who have not heard the word cannot accept Christ. I don’t know your thoughts on this, but I do know that there are people in the American Culture who have not heard about Christ. Or, they have not seen Christ through Christians. America is a missions field. Think about our culture. There are people impacted by divorce, homosexuality, abuse, sex outside of marriage, abortion, and so many other things.

   We are called to “go into the world and make disciples.” We are called to be traders just like in this YouTube video called Missional Living Becoming Traders (link at the bottom). The video talks about trading the message we receive in culture for God’s message. We need to stop being selfish and start helping others. See, many times we think that we can reach the lost in the same way everywhere we go. But, we need to differentiate how we tell others. We can go to other countries and give them hope by saying Christ died for you. In America we need to do more than that. Many people have heard the message from Christians but they do not believe it because “Christians are hypocrites.”

   I have found that people listen to others more when people actually seem to care about them. It is in the little acts that people tend to realize we are the real deal. Sure, as a “trader” we will need to sacrifice some things but we need to remember the things of this world are temporary. We need to show Christ’s love to others so that someday they may come to Christ. And, when we become friends with those people we need to be an example for them.

   So, I want to be clear I am not saying we shouldn’t go to other countries to be missionaries. What I am saying is that if you are a Christian you are a missionary. It does not matter where you are in the world. We need to tell others about Christ.

   So are you being a missionary where you are at? Are you showing the love of Christ to others?

   Romans 10:13-15, Mark 16:15, Matthew 24:14

   Link to Missional Living video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHa_d_8Wlgg