With just under 2 weeks left until I leave for Thailand I find myself thinking about the trip constantly. Not only am I thinking about what to pack and wear, when I have flights and how to get train tickets, but I’m also thinking about my purpose as a missionary, my motivation for traveling to Thailand, and my expectations as well as desires for the entirety of the trip.
Christianity is the fastest-growing religion in the world. On average 178,000 people convert to Christianity daily. We are called to do more then convince someone to say a prayer or espouse to follow Jesus. We are not called to seek numbers for the Lord we are called to harvest souls. We are called to make disciple… disciples who have a transformational impact upon their communities. The reality of Revelations 7:9—where people from every nation, tribe, and people group will gather to worship Jesus—has never seemed more plausible.
The church exists in some form in every nation of the world. Be inspired by that truth! God is doing amazing things through His church everywhere. Our brothers and sisters all over the world give us a glimpse into how God is working. They inspire us to remain faithful. The growing church is far from perfect and has loads of flaws, but that’s the beauty of God’s amazing ability to take our imperfect efforts and use them to reflect His glory (may He use me as imperfect as I am to display His glory in the approaching month).
It is incredible the number of people coming to the Lord daily; however, it hasn’t been without a price. More Christians have been martyred for their faith in the past century than in the previous 19 combined. I don’t even come close to understanding the true meaning of religious persecution or martyrdom. And honestly I hope I don’t, what I do want to understand though is the shear passion and devotion for Christ that a martyr displays. I want my love of Christ to be evident in all that I do; I want to walk in a way that displays my faith through action with out words. I want to go beyond mere lip service of saying I need to learn from the people and the churches I go to work with. Truthfully they have much more to share with me and teach me than I have to offer them.
I feel the individuals will me are much more likely to expect immediate and direct provision from God than I might as a typical Western believer. I have been so influenced by science and the comforts of life in the West that the miracles of Jesus often seem like a first century phenomenon rather than a reality for today. I try to schedule and plan so many things into each day that I leave little room for the Lord to work in my life. I hope for and desire that the Lord uses this trip and the examples of the brothers and sisters I meet to stir me from the complacency I have in my over scheduled life and create in me a greater sense of His direct and immediate provision.
I have thought long and hard about my motivation for this trip. And I keep coming back to a few particular thoughts. I want desperately for my single motivation for this trip to be to glorify the Lord through faithful devotion to His will and to glorify Him in all I do, say, and think. While I also fear that my motivations may become easily tainted. I fear that my joy for excitement and adventure may be hidden motives in my choice of destination and my choice to go alone and separate from any organization. I don’t want my drive to go to Thailand to be a reflection of my desire for adventure and excitement. I want this mission to reflect a desire for a nobler endeavor. I’m more worried though, that this mission trip is one more attempt to complete an unnecessary check list I like to create for myself in hopes that my salvation comes from anything I can do or have done. But I know that is false, I know salvation is a gift. It is something I can’t earn, achieve, or deserve; yet… He’s given it to me. “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we might be for the praise of his glory.”(Ephesians 1:11&12)
I’ve been thinking about one question dealing with my motivation quite a bit… When is it mission, when is it “vacation with a purpose”, and when is it just “vacation”?
I think the conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s the anticipation of the trip that determines what it should be called. It’s the anticipation of the trip that determines how we engage in it. I think expectations and anticipation affect how someone encounters new experiences. So my expectation for this trip is that I grow help others grow in the Lord, that I reflect the love of Christ in all my actions, that the children I work with come to know the love of their one true Father in heaven, that I too grow in the Lord, but that I grow in the Lord while I become less and he becomes more. I will enjoy the excitement and adventure of the trip.
I’m not against having fun on this trip. Having fun is totally a spiritual thing; it’s part of how God made us. But having fun and adventure are not my driving motivation for this trip…they are not what I am seeking. I am seeking to be missional , I’m seeking to constantly be looking for ways to call people to follow Jesus, and to constant consider how to facilitate peace and justice. I’m seeking the inexpressible and glorious joy that results from the salvation of my soul, and I am seeking to share that and display that to all.
I hope that thinking about my motivation for this trip influences what happens once I arrive. Im not trying to go on vacation… I can do that in the Outer Banks.
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