Have you ever tried to imagine yourself sitting under a mango tree in some far-off mission field? If you’re like me, you picture the joy of seeing God pour out His grace through your efforts as people cluster around you. You can almost see the first spark of real hope flash in hopeless eyes. You can almost feel the deep peace of trusting—of truly leaning on His promise (Matt. 6:25-32) to provide for your daily needs. Perhaps you can imagine . . . uh-oh. The sacrifices.
The absence of technology, of amenities; perhaps even the absence of police and ambulance services. Maybe there isn’t even a hospital within a day’s journey! Let’s stop right here before we imagine the tropical infections, the parasites . . .Somewhere between mangoes and malaria, we have tripped and fallen on some compelling reason to stay right where we are, safe and sanitized. Sure, God calls some hardy souls to bring His light to unreached frontiers, but He isn’t calling me, is He?
“God does not require us to give up anything that it is for our best interest to retain. In all that He does, He has the well-being of His children in view. Would that all who have not chosen Christ might realize that He has something vastly better to offer them than they are seeking for themselves” (Steps to Christ, p. 46).
Please pause for a minute and consider. Let the truth of these words sink in. If God is calling you to step forward into missions, is He calling you to a life that He will someday have to apologize to you for when you meet Him face-to-face? Will He need your forgiveness for what He put you through? Or is He inviting you, in His strength, to partake in an experience more wonderful than you can imagine?
