T-Minus 7 Days: The Motivation for Missions

In seven days I will begin the task of working with my brothers in Christ in the nation of Belarus to encourage and equip them as they plant and pastor churches there. I am excited and filled with joyful anticipation about this special time! If you know me, which many of you do, you understand that this is not normal. In point of fact, I am a home-body, I really do not enjoy traveling all that much, I am not particularly fond of trying new things, I am an anxious person, and I certainly do not consider hours on end in airports and planes to be my ideal of fun. Yes, I am a terrible bore! But there is something stirring inside of me that is overriding all of my natural fears and tendencies. It is a passion for the Gospel, the Savior, and the Church. Typically I am quick to ask questions in my life that are all to prone to fleshly fear like, "what if it fails?", or "what if something happens?". But this is something far different, something that elicits confidence, and an expectation of victory in the deepest part of my soul. Why? This is a calling that cannot fail. Over the next few days as we prepare to leave to minister abroad I want to share some thoughts with you that are behind my certain optimism about missions of any type. Whether they are across the street or around the globe. The cause of the Gospel cannot fail!

And here dear readers is the reason why: missions is rooted in the person of God as a covenant making God, and missions is the goal of God which He has purposed to fulfill. And may I remind you, the God of Scripture does not and cannot fail in His purposes. I do not say this in a vacuum, but with the weight of the entirety of revealed Truth on my side. It begins here in Genesis 12:1-3.

"Now the LORD said to Abram, Go forth from your country...and I will make you a great nation...and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

It can be accurately said that Abram was the first man called to foreign missions, for through Abram's seed the Messiah would come with His offer of salvation to all the nations and families of the earth. To be sure, missions reaches its apex in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19) in the New Testament, but it is birthed, ordained, and guaranteed all the way back to Abram in Genesis.

I don't know about you, but that gives me great hope and great confidence in the cause of investing in the Gospel and the Church around the globe. It has been God's idea and unfailing purpose from the beginning.

I hope this thought will challenge you to pray for not only myself in these next few weeks, but also for your own call to serve Christ wherever you are. And most of all to glory in a cause that God inaugurated so very long ago, and gave us the first hint of His power to fulfill His mission.

The nations WILL be blessed!

Feel free to send this blog to others who will follow it and pray for us in the days to come!

To God be the Glory Alone!