Last night I was reminded of how much I miss China. I was looking through some pictures of our trip we took back in June and the memories came back like it was just yesterday. The two weeks I spent on the other side of the world changed my life, and I will never forget the relationships that I made there.
If I were offered the opportunity to go back, I would drop everything and go. It is an experience that will never be matched.
However, I do not do it for myself. In fact, if God never changed my life, there would be no way I would travel 30 hours, going in and out of airports, to a strange place, with strange food, with people who are next to impossible to communicate with.
The reason I went and will keep going, is the same reason we all, as Christians, MUST go. Not to bring any attention or glory to ourselves, but to bring glory and honor to God. To make God look good. To show the world the redeeming hope that was brought through Jesus Christ. This is what we are commanded to do in Matthew 28:18-20. This is what the early church did in the book of Acts. And now it is our turn.
This is why it saddens me to hear the excuses that have become so popular in American christianity. Christians will come up with almost anything to try and get out of going. “I’ll just give money so I don’t have to go” or “I’m not called to do that.” Just today, I was on facebook and read a friends status that said something about missing a country that he had visited on a mission trip and how he couldn’t wait until he could afford to return. Someone then commented about how he doesn’t need to go that far away, because there are plenty of people around here that need to hear the Gospel and need help financially.
Now, please don’t misunderstand me. It is true that there are plenty of people here that need the Gospel. But, I feel that in order to justify our own selfishness, we have convinced ourselves of these lies. Where in the Bible does it say that we must choose one or the other? Where does it say that we should either stay where we are or move to another country? As a friend once put it, when we shine the light of Jesus Christ around the world, the place it will be most visible is at home.
The Great Commission was not a suggestion. It wasn’t just for those who are “called” to be missionaries or pastors. It is for everyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ.
Instead of offering up another worn-out excuse, how about saying, “here I am, Lord; use me however you will.”
