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This last Sunday, my church hosted its annual Missions Conference/Festival, where missionaries we support come to hang out and tell us about what they face every day on the mission field.
It’s always really awesome to see people who devote their entire lives to the Cause. To seeing Jesus’s name glorified. To bringing His light to the dark places.
But missionaries aren’t the only ones who can do that.
Don’t get me wrong—I completely admire missionaries for giving up their lives here in the United States (if they’re a missionary in another country) and potentially facing persecution, etc. But I think, as Christians, we’re all called to be missionaries.
Regardless of where we are, we are all called to devote our entire lives to the Cause. To devote all of ourselves to seeing Jesus’s name glorified. To bring His light to the dark places.
I think in many ways, we put missionaries on a pedestal. We think, “Wow, they’re so amazing. I could never be like that.”
But you can. And you don’t have to go to another country to do it.
You can be Jesus to that woman in your office who is facing divorce. To the cashier at the grocery store who is behind on his rent and doesn’t know where to turn. To the other mom in your play group who is overwhelmed by having three kids under 4 years of age.
You can be the light wherever God has placed you. For foreign missionaries, he may have led them to Kenya, or India, or Japan. But something I don’t think about often enough is that God has placed me where I am. It didn’t happen by default. Just because I didn’t have to go through the arduous process of getting a foreign visa, raising support, and saying good-bye to loved ones doesn’t mean that I’m not exactly where God wants me.
What it does mean is that I need to be on the lookout for opportunities. Who in my life needs Jesus? How can I show Jesus to them? How can I be the light?
The following video features an awesome song by Kari Jobe that I got to sing on Sunday. It reminds me that God doesn’t want me to hide the light he’s put into me. He wants me to light it up.
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Your Turn: What does being a light mean to you?
*Photo by Michal Marcol
Exactly!!! I do LOVE listening to foreign missionaries and their adventures, and I've been guilty of putting them on a pedestal, but this post is right on. To me, it's being hope in darkness and as we know, darkness is everywhere.
Great post, Lindsay!
I love hope. Hope is my favorite. 🙂
It means bringing it. But first we have to let God fill us up with in. Then, then we need to BRING IT! 😀
~ Wendy
Ye-ah, bring it, girl! And definitely…we have to be filled before we can give it out.
Great stuff, Lindsay. I work for a Christ-centered homeless ministry and we have literally hundreds of churches and over 3,000 volunteers each year – we tell these folks who give of their time, effort and money that they're serving "in the mission field in their own backyard." It's so true that we really can be a missionary anywhere.
Being a light to me means letting my focus shift upward and outward.
So cool, Melissa. I'll bet you witness so many darkness-to-light moments in that ministry.
Shining the love of Jesus in our every day life while forming relationships with others, even if for a brief moment in the grocery line!
I love Kari Jobe!
I know, isn't she amazing? She seems so down-to-earth and real.
Good reminder that we are all out in the mission field where we are…and the harvest is ready!!
We are called to be salt & light to the world. And our world could be the cubicle next door??
🙂
Yep, there are plenty of opportunities in the surrounding cubicles, I'm sure!
I love that song!!! Great reminder, Lindsay!
Thanks, Sarah. I pray I really absorb it and figure out what it means to be a light.
Great post, it goes nicely with mine today. http://tcavey.blogspot.com/2012/03/hope-light-brings.html
I think God is trying to remind his people to be lights, no matter what their calling is. It is not only missionaries or preachers who are to be lights, we all must shine!
I couldn't agree with you more, TC. It's not just the missionaries called to shine, but all of us with Christ in our lives.
I respect the people who travel out of country and volunteer their time and lives to give to others, but I equally respect those who look around their own community and see the need to give there. Perhaps it's not as "exciting" as going overseas and maybe you can't fill up your Facebook album with quite as many "exotic" photos, but it's always honorable to give back to the community where you live.
Great post Lindsay. Keep them coming!
I couldn't agree with you more! Definitely so honorable to give back where you are. 🙂
Great post, Lindsay! I think we often suffer from that feeling that other people's callings are higher than our own, when in actuality we all just have different roles.
Thanks, Ashley. And yes, totally agree. It's like the verse that talks about the Body of Christ. We are all members of one body; we just aren't all hands. Some are legs, some are eyes, and some are mouths. All different but equally important. 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting!