When I signed up for this trip I was just expecting it to be like the other mission trips I’ve been on. Hang out with people, love on people, meet the physical needs of people, and share the gospel once or twice (And when we did share the gospel I knew for sure it wouldn’t be me doing the talking, but boy was I wrong.). On the past mission trips I’ve been on and my whole life really, I have been in control of my comfort. If I don’t feel comfortable doing something, I simply don’t do it. However, on this trip I have had no choice but to surrender my desire to be comfortable. And after thinking and praying about it a lot, I realized as a Christian I should never be comfortable. On this trip my teammates and I have preached in front of the church and testified about how the Lord has worked in our lives, we have shared our faith and presented the gospel to people of all kinds, we’ve led the African people in worship, claimed healing over the sick, discipled young believers, answered questions from Muslims, loved on the unlovable, and built amazing relationships with people I know I most likely wont ever see again. All of this is uncomfortable for me. Living here for two months has made this lifestyle somewhat normal. Knowing I could be asked to preach five minutes before a service keeps me ready. Knowing someone who is demon possessed could show up at our doorstep at any given time keeps me ready. Knowing the insane number of orphans in this town keeps me ready to lavish the love of Jesus upon them. Knowing the time of Jesus’ return is drawing near creates in me a sense of urgency to see someone from every tribe and tongue praise the One true God. Sadly, it’s taken me coming to Africa for two months to teach me what it looks like to be ready to give an answer for my faith and to give a testimony of God’s goodness.
I was reading Matthew 24 the other day and if you haven’t read it before you should because it talks about the signs of the Lord’s return. Based on God’s word the return of Jesus is near. I don’t want to leave this earth wondering how much more I could give, I want to give it all. I want to take advantage of EVERY opportunity I have to share with people the love of our Savior. Time is running out. We aren’t promised tomorrow and the Bible says we will never know when He is coming, and when He does come He will be like a thief in the night. This missionary lifestyle should not be one lived in a foreign or poverty stricken country, it should be a continual mindset. As Christians we are called to make disciples, it doesn’t matter where, just make them. Our lives should be fixed around the story of Salvation so that everything we do is driven by our desire to see lived changed. Time is running out.
I want to encourage each of you, and myself as well, to live an uncomfortable lifestyle. If sharing your faith is uncomfortable for you too, good! What an incredible opportunity for the Lord to be strong in our weakness. In sharing our faith we have nothing to lose, sure some people might think we’re weird or crazy but the beautiful thing about that is we don’t answer to humans, we answer to God.
The time is now.
