So this school year I am teaching a class on missions. However, I find a problem in teaching this class. I do not think of myself as being successful in my endeavors as a missionary. Somehow, I am supposed to explain to students how we ought to go about mission work, when I don’t feel that I have ever been terribly successful.
It is true that I have never been a missionary, at least not in the technical sense, but I have always striven to live a Christian witness everywhere I go, and I make attempts at sharing the gospel with people. However, I have not seen a lot of success in some settings. For example, in college, I feel like I ruined my Christian testimony with a broken off engagement that consumed two years of college (during the relationship) and then marred my testimony ever after. More recently, I provided pulpit supply for a Native American church in a town nearby (one hour away… that is nearby in Montana). While encouraging the faithful members of the church, I found that I had basically no ability to reach beyond to the community during those two years. Outside of those endeavors, I find that raising my own family requires enough of my time and energy that I have little to give to further efforts, and therefore, I often feel that I fall very short of living out the Great Commission.
However successful or unsuccessful I feel that I have been, I still continue to try. I am always looking for ways to be more involved in sharing the gospel, reaching out to hurting people, and making disciples of younger believers. Perhaps you feel as I do. If so, join me in this continued endeavor, regardless of the visibility of the results. Let's be faithful and diligent, leaving the results in the hands of the King of kings. I am inclined to think that He would rather we try and fail then to fail to try.
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