My understanding of Mission when I was a young Christian about 40 years ago was limited by my environment, the Christians I mixed with. It was all confined by the 4 walls of the Church. When someone stepped out of the Church and went on mission to other countries, to me that person must be very close to God. How did he/she hear the calling? There was so much sacrifice for a missionary, I thought. It seemed to me when one is a missionary, the person is of a different breed; one who has direct line to God. There weren’t many ways to find out as we didn’t have easy access to the internet world then.
Today people called me pastor, preacher, teacher, evangelist, apostle, Reverend, church planter, missionary, man of God, brother, father, uncle and the like, depending on where I am. I am the same person whether I am in Singapore or in the 1st or 3rd world country. But from their perspective and from their culture, I am someone different. Can you imagine that you are called father, pa!
But in the heart of God all of us are missionaries (2 Cor 5:17-21). So, I am a missionary. So, I am on a mission with God, all the time and every time. Only Jesus who is without sins has died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. His mission is to seek and save the lost. His desire is to use me (2 Thes 2:14) and all the followers of Jesus that through the Gospel, the lost will gain back the glory lost. I am called an ambassador for Christ and a priest, this is one of my identity. I need only to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit and His written word to walk by faith.
I am a missionary. I become the Bible and the good news to whoever I meet. I am the salt and the light. So, it becomes very clear that I must be my true self or authentic; including the way I react to different people in different environment. My wife, my children, my immediate family, my neighbours, the food stalls holders, the bus drivers, mission field and the likes. In each environment, the encounter will be different, some very mundane and routine. My reaction and my response to each kind of people may be different because we are all very different. In every interaction the experience I got is different. The more diversified the communities I mix with, the richer the experience I have. I have learnt to count my blessings and number my days. It has changed the way I look at the value of life. I don’t drive anymore as a result.
I travel quite a bit for missions in the last few years. I am convinced that all of us can make disciples of all nations. Take the first step!
Glory to God. Amen.