Mission Possible

Day 36: Made for a Mission

This chapter concludes the fifth purpose of our Christian lives, that is, we were made for a mission. God is at work in the world in the present time just as he was in the time of Jesus; and he wants us to join him much as his Son recruited his apostles.

It was refreshing to learn the difference between ministry (our service to fellow-believers) and mission (our service to unbelievers). Thus, our mission is to spread God’s good news of salvation to unbelievers. Indeed, as Warren points out, the word mission comes from the Latin word which means “sending”. God is sending us to the world as a representative of his Son, Jesus. Jesus is our role model as a missionary to the pagan world.

It is uplifting then to realize that as missionaries we are continuing Jesus’s mission on earth. It is a big responsibility for we are in effect being recruited by Jesus himself as if we are one of his apostles. And indeed we are by virtue of our baptism. Yet, in actuality, it is also a great privilege. We are co-workers in God’s salvation plan; thus, we shall also be co-heirs to his Kingdom to come on account of our efforts and by his grace.

In addition, as inherent in any responsibility our lives take on a different value. Our lives are given meaning. We are not just specks of dust animated in the natural world. We become souls working for God and just in transit to a mystical realm. 

But what does it cost to fulfill our mission? Here is the rub. To fulfill our mission require of us acceptance of God’s agenda for our lives. It means abandoning our own agenda. It means trusting God’s and dedicating or surrendering our own lives to be used by him for his purposes. Not ours, but God’s. This is the crux of our free will.

Finally, this chapter is very special to me. I invite you brothers to give special reading to page 287 where Warren intimated his raison d’ etre, his “reason for being” a preacher. His father was a preacher himself and towards the end of his life while fighting against cancer, Warren was demonstrated his dad’s faith. This by far goes to support one of those oft-quoted phrases that the fruit cannot fall far from the tree. The faith of a simple preacher serving in small, rural churches gave birth to the faith of a Rick Warren who now demonstrates to the whole world the glory of God. And he now writes to commission as just as his dad had commissioned him in deathbed: “Save one more for Jesus!”

If there is anything I would like to be remembered for by my children when I pass to the other side, it would be that I introduced them to God and somehow birthed in them the same faith and passion for mission that Warren’s dad had gifted him. If that were so, I shall be so happy watching from above as my children and their offspring save one more for Jesus.