When I first got married, my wife, Vicky, went through quite a bit of difficulty. The world wasn’t willing to pay me what I believed it should. I wasn’t making the money I wanted. The more frustrated I became about this, the more difficult things were for Vicky.
Turning to Jesus
Out of frustration, I eventually turned to spiritual things and ended up following Jesus. I learned that he was a man on a mission. He came to live and die and pay for our sins. He knew what he was supposed to be doing, and he knew when his work was complete.
I’ve always been a fan of team accomplishment. You know, like those movies where the underdogs pull out a win at the very end. I root for teams like those in Remember the Titans and The Longest Yard. I enjoy being part of a team that gives everything, and in the end, win or lose, knows that they gave their all. I’ve even had the chance to work on projects like that during my career.
Staying Out of Trouble
When I first began following Jesus, no one in the church was in any kind of a battle or contest. We were mostly trying to stay out of trouble. Christianity had become incumbent. We were all playing on defense, trying not to lose.
Most of my Christian life has been about pursuing purpose and mission. I would ask myself these questions: Was I an accident? Did Jesus save me just to help me stay out of trouble? Was I only supposed to behave until I died so I could receive eternal life?
Fortunately, over time, I’ve learned that the battle, while well concealed, still waged on, as it does at this moment. Books like The Barbarian Way by Erwin Raphael McManus, Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat and Eternity Is Now in Session by John Ortberg, as well as many others, confirmed my suspicions.
No Christian Spectators
God doesn’t call us to be spectators. We may cheer others on, but we’re also part of the production. There are no bleachers for the on-mission life. We each have been saved for a mission: doing good works that God prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:10). All we must do is walk in them by bending our life to step into the good works God created us to do.
Jesus has a mission for each of us, and that idea alone makes you a missionary. You may sense a call to sell everything and move overseas but most do not. Most of us have a faint discomfort about something that lies just outside of our daily lives. We experience this discomfort every so often. Our missions are possible, just not easy. Therefore, we must ask for the assignment (Matthew 7:7). We must look deeply to uncover what God would have us do. Some of our efforts will not meet our expectations. You can expect to learn through trial and error. However, the discomfort won’t go away. But if we persist in asking, seeking, and knocking, we will find that we’re on the very mission for which God created us.
Life On Mission
At Follower of One, we call this life on mission. We want to live on mission and help you also live on mission — we invest our energy toward rewards and growth that will matter now and in the next life. We take our marching orders from God the Father and Jesus through the Holy Spirit living in us. We find energy and strength to honor God in our circumstances and to bless the people that we interact with daily.Discover an on-mission life with Jesus. Join our online community and take the next Marketplace Mission Trip. Invite friends to join you. Don’t miss out on the joy of life on mission, serving Jesus daily.
Featured photo by Lucie Hošová on Unsplash; in-text photo by Paul Skorupskas on Unsplash
