I recently took 4 of our youth to SIFAT. While there we were challenged in our own definition of missions, we learned about missions around the world, and we had the opportunity to experience life as a third world citizen. Through the experience I kept writing down thoughts and ideas. What follows is a listing of those. Keep in mind they are not fleshed out, or sometimes not complete thoughts, but here for further discussion.
Should followers of Christ love “the least of these” for the sake of the “least of these?”
Should we love the hungry and the poor regardless of what they believe or could believe?
What is more important to God; your sacrifices, or obedience to His voice?
The point of missions is not to do something good, but to be obedient to God
Love is an action
You can choose to not be loving at times.
Obedience = Love
The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference
Whether you are helping the rich, poor, able or disabled, the important thing is that you rae loving God and God’s people and being obedient.
We often choose who is “worthy” of our help based on our own evaluation of what we can get from the action.
Being obedient to God is loving God’s people wherever they are, whoever they are, whenever we can.
You are obedient when you have a relationship with and love the one you are being obedient to.
Choosing to love someone means choosing to be obedient.
If you love me obey my commands – John 14:16
Is there any difference between showing love by washing the dishes because your mom asked , or going to Uganda to play with children?
Serve where you are called to serve, love where you are called to love
If all Christians are called to missions, and our definition of missions revolves around serving to those who are poorer and “less fortunate” than us, then who are the poor and less fortunate in mission to?
Missions = Love without an Agenda
There is sometimes a difference between doing things for God, and obedience to God. He may not have called us to do what we are wanting to do for Him.
Missions happens when you love those around you, your school, home, and church.
Don’t think about what you are going to do differently, but how you are going to be different.
So..after reading these what do you agree with? Which statements challenge you? What have you never thought of before? Share your thoughts in the comments below.