Does God Need Us Here?
There is a pitfall that we, as missionaries, have a greater potential of slipping into. It’s the self-convincing thought that God needs us here. That God owes us something for being here. That we are somehow spiritually superior to other brothers and sisters “back home” that haven’t taken a similar leap into their faith.
I’ve found in my own life, that when this idea tries to creep into my internal dialogue, my prayer times, or my thought life that nothing good comes of it. The thought that I am indispensable, or that the people we have been called to serve would be doomed in not for OUR obedience is simply off base. God does not need martyrs on the field because he already has one, his name is Jesus, and it is HIS obedience on the cross what saves the world, including the part of it that I serve in.
The idea does one of three things, or all of them when present.
1) It steals the joy out of this adventure.
I forget that I have been called to be a LIVING sacrifice, not a walking dead one. God does not need me here, instead he has called me here. He did not make some desperate plea for me to come save people, rather he invited me along to witness how He does through his son. When I set down my sack-cloth and ashes and pick up my Indiana Jones hat, the challenges that I face just seem to be amazing sermon illustrations for another day.
2) It causes me to look for “thank you’s.”
The fact is, in this relationship with God, we are the thankful ones. I often stare in wonder, in those moments when my eyes have seen some SPECTACULAR demonstrations of Grace, moments when there is no doubt God just showed-off in front of a watching world, amazed at the fact that he chose me to be a witness of it. He could have asked any one of millions of people to be standing in my shoes at that moment…and yet he invited me be the child that gets to be there with him.
3) It causes me to minimize the faith adventures God has others on.
I am a firm believer that we are all missionaries, even grandma’s back home who faithfully pray for us here. The only difference is the geography and the set of challenges each one faces. And of course there are days where we wish we had the same skills and understanding and common assumptions of the culture we grew up in to face the challenges we face today. But we have something bigger and better, the mighty Holy Spirit who lives in us and counsels us and leads us into all Truth. But it is important that I remember that challenges are challenges no matter where one is at. And God is at work here, just like he is at work there. And it makes life so much fuller when we can celebrate the work the entire body of Christ is doing.
We recently hosted a team from Minnesota here in Lima. Great bunch of people that were a blast to serve alongside. As we were en route to the airport to drop them off, the mission director shared with me, “This is the least ‘mission-trippy’ mission trip we have been on. We accomplished so much and had so much fun doing it!” I think God enjoys the work he is up to in his fields, and if we can tap into His life, the joy of our salvation, our sense of adventure and awe, we’ll find that among the dry patches and thorns and challenges of the field there are far more things that are beautiful and worthy of praise.
When I find any degree of the self-centered thoughts creeping in, there is a verse that challenges me to recalibrate. Acts 17:25 “And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. RATHER, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
The word “rather” in this verse is the great eraser that wipes my white board clean of all the self-impressed things, accomplishments, fears, entitlements, pride, complaints, frustrations, weariness that life on a foreign mission field can fill it with. Because it really is not about what I do for God here, but about what God already did for us through Christ Jesus that makes this wonderful calling a joy to share with others. When I allow “RATHER” to reset my thinking, I always seem to find that hand-written name in permanent ink on my white board. Once all the self-efforts have been cleared, that magnificent name JESUS looks so clear and beautiful and empowering and ready to share yet again.
God does not need me here. God wants me here, and that is why he has made his invitation so clear. We don’t have to be here, we get to be here. And for that we can be thankful.
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