I spent a couple of days this week at a conference where I listened to some of the most inspiring stories and admonitions I’ve ever heard. We marveled at bold missionaries, both past and present, who gave up all conventional comforts to go to the spiritually darkest places on earth, driven there by a love for Christ and a passion to see Him worshiped by every nation. Their determination and courage created a fire in all of us who left wishing that we, too, could do something extraordinary for God.
Chad and I wrestled with this on the drive back to our comfortable, regular sort of life in our small town in Texas. We found ourselves wishing in certain ways that we could turn the clock back 30 years and be those young, fiery missionaries who risk everything to bring the gospel to the world. We wondered if, even now, we should sell the few things we own and run toward the nations. The truth is that God’s work for us, at least for the time being, appears to be here in this very pleasant part of the vineyard. But that doesn’t mean that God’s greatness isn’t in the ordinary things.
There is no tipping point in the kingdom of God where some act of obedience becomes extraordinary enough to count as truly great. Actually everything that Christian people do in accordance with God’s word, every decision we make that is bent toward obedience instead of disobedience, every loving word we speak, every godly attitude we display, every moment that we live with Christ in view, is beautiful and meaningful. At times the Lord will call us to take a greater risk: to teach that class that we’re afraid to teach, to leave a job that we’re comfortable with, to take the first step in reconciling with an old friend. And yes, sometimes He will call some of us to build a hut in a jungle someplace and dramatically commit ourselves to teaching the gospel to those who are in desperate need of a Savior.
Most of us aren’t the ones who will sacrifice and suffer and do such a great work for God in another part of the world. We should pray about that and seek God and ask Him to make His will clear to us. But most of us will find that He has called us to something that feels much less dramatic, something much less demanding. Are we listening? Because He will never stop asking us to wake up and realize that there are people all around us, in our regular, ordinary places, who are also in desperate need of a Savior. We should never forget that there are great, mighty, miraculous, eternal things that God has for us right where we are, no matter where we are.
We should read the stories of the missionaries and weep and let our hearts be completely inspired by their hardships and victories and faith. But they shouldn’t inspire us just to wish that we had an opportunity to so bravely go to a foreign land–they should embolden us to live with the same type of vigor and gospel determination right where we already are. Every corner of the world needs Jesus, even the more pleasant ones. We can’t walk away from missionary stories that stir our hearts and sigh and think that God hasn’t called us to such things. Never! “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” That means He wants some people right here in Olney, Texas, who are boldly and lovingly living for Christ in a way that draws people to His beauty and goodness.
Maybe we are the ones to go. Maybe we are the ones to stay. But one thing I know: the work of Christ is not hindered by ordinary things, ordinary places, or ordinary people. When William Carey said that we should expect great things from God, do you think he believed that those expectations were bound by foreign borders? Each of us should then view our own everyday existence as the mission field where God has planted us, at least for now. What great things will we attempt for God here?
I love hearing from you!