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Articles from July 2015

What Am I Doing Here?: Mission Doesn’t Mean Miles

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Having been made in the image of God, our hearts have been set by Him on eternity. Rooted in each heart is a God-given desire to impact the world around us. But in the midst of endless distractions, countless opportunities to live out our purpose can go unnoticed each and every day. Stick around this week as we look at how we live our day-to-day lives in a way that points others to the cross.

 

Mission Doesn’t Mean Miles

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19, NASB

tuesdayTo the left of the parking lot exit, the sign reads, “You are now entering the mission field.” I see it several times a week as I leave my kids’ preschool, but do I really believe that?

“Mission field” brings to my mind passports, orphans with shoeless feet, extreme poverty, and a divine calling from Almighty God. While these are often true about missions, there’s much more to it. On our recent trip to Nicaragua, my narrow-minded view of missions was challenged by a teammate during morning devotions.

Building on the wisdom that comes from years of living as a missionary, my teammate and friend reminded me that you don’t need to cross an ocean to be a missionary. Instead, it’s living a life of intention regardless of where we find ourselves. Allowing this message to settle deep in my heart, I left for a day of ministry feeling encouraged and with a strong resolve to live missionally wherever I was.

Wouldn’t you know that I had the opportunity to put that resolve into practice almost immediately after returning home? Hearing yet another sibling squabble as I was washing dishes, I struggled to wrap my mind around the paradigm shift that had just occurred in my life. How was it possible that only two days earlier I had witnessed inmates in a Nicaraguan jail sing praises to God, weeping and falling to their knees praying for forgiveness? It was a hard concept to grasp and quite honestly, my life didn’t feel very missional at that moment. In fact, it felt annoying.

Remembering the words of my wise friend, I reminded myself of my role as a follower of Christ: shaping those screaming preschoolers into disciples is a divine calling. It is kingdom work. Regardless of our season of life or our location on a map, we each have a divine calling: to make disciples.

Jesus commanded believers to make disciples of all nations, but we don’t need to cross oceans to do it. Disciples need to be made in our homes, in our churches, in our schools, and in our office buildings.

Living missionally isn’t about the miles we have traveled: mission is about our hearts. It is about living our lives intentionally in order to share Christ’s love with the world around us. There is no place on this earth that doesn’t need the love of Jesus Christ, so none of us get a pass on this one. All nations means my nation and your nation, my neighborhood and your neighborhood.

Wherever God has us: that is our mission field. Let’s get to work!

Living missionally,

Traci

What Am I Doing Here?: Small Beginnings

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Having been made in the image of God, our hearts have been set by Him on eternity. Rooted in each heart is a God-given desire to impact the world around us. But in the midst of endless distractions, countless opportunities to live out our purpose can go unnoticed each and every day. Stick around this week as we look at how we live our day-to-day lives in a way that points others to the cross.

 

Small Beginnings

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plum line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” 

Zechariah 4:10, NLT

mondayYou need not look very far to see seemingly ordinary people doing remarkable things in the name of Jesus. Evangelists are bringing the gospel to thousands. Wells are being dug, bringing the lifeline of clean water to impoverished communities in desperate need. Rescued from the horrors of sex slavery, women are supporting themselves through meaningful employment, and orphans around the world are being adopted into loving families. I get goosebumps just thinking about the kingdom work that is being done all around the world!

Within each of our hearts is a God-given desire to make a difference in the world around us. All too often, the great needs compared with our limited abilities can seem intimidating so we settle on doing nothing.

After the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Babylonians, Zerubbabel was the man charged to rebuild it. It was no small task. Remembering the splendor of Solomon’s temple, many of the older Jews were disappointed with the new temple. Compared to Solomon’s temple, it was smaller and lacking the “wow” factor they felt it needed. Talk about sucking the wind right out of someone’s sails!

What if Zerubbabel had given in to the discouragement of the unfair comparison, believing his temple wasn’t big enough or grand enough? What if he had chosen to do nothing?

Unfortunately, I’ve been guilty of the comparison trap and felt that what I had to offer was just too small. I’ve given in to discouragement. Maybe you have, too.

The Lord told Zechariah, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (Zechariah 4:10). Bigger isn’t always better: He values our small efforts and actually rejoices in them! Small yeses, small sacrifices, and small steps of faith are the beginning. Just as Jesus took a little boy’s lunch, blessed it, multiplied it, and fed thousands, He will do the same for us. We need only lay our small offering of our time, our money, our gifts, and our lives at His feet.

Savoring the small,

Traci

The Greatest Mystery Ever: What the Cross Tells Us About the Future

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I love a good mystery. My favorite mystery writer is Mary Higgins Clark, and I’ve managed to collect all but a few of her entire works. But the greatest mystery ever told is why God chose to redeem mankind through Christ’s death on the cross. This week we’ll explore the mystery of the cross—foolishness to the unsaved but the power of God to those who claim Him as Lord and Savior (I Cor. 1:18).

 

What the Cross Tells Us About the Future

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 

1 Corinthians 15:19

IMG_3400We began the week thinking about the mystery of the cross. If you can explain how the death of one man on one day in history paid the penalty for sin for all mankind for all time, then perhaps you are the world’s greatest sleuth. My compliments!

I’m guessing, however, you’re as mystified as the rest of us. And speaking of trusting God, it is, after all, by faith that we are saved (Rom. 3:28). And even our faith is a gift of God!

We also began the week by asserting that your decision about the cross is the most important one you’ll ever make. Just as Christ promised that He was going to prepare a place for us in His eternal home, He also promised that unbelievers are cursed and will be sent “into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). This is the bad news that precedes the good news.

If you haven’t made the decision to accept Christ’s saving grace as payment for your sin, check out the ZMI Family Ministries Website and read “How to Have Peace with God.” zmiinternational.org

If you have made this decision, I hope to meet you in heaven. I know it’ll be crowded, full of people from every nation and tribe, no matter how long the earth remains. But I’ll find you. Your place has been reserved for you (Jn. 14:1-3). The Book of Revelation describes heaven as a place of no death, mourning, crying, or pain. Everything will be made new (Rev. 21:4-5). What a future awaits us!

If you want to know more about what will happen when Christ returns for us, read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:3. After these verses Paul went on to warn us not to be unprepared for that day. “Let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet …Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:8-11).

I hope you’ve found this week’s Doses encouraging. If so, share them on your Facebook page or with a friend who might need a little assurance right now. Until I see you in heaven,

Preparing for the great day of the Lord,

Betty