Living with a Mission
Almost anyone you ask will tell you – your life should have purpose. You should have plans, dreams, and a mission to give your life direction and a sense of meaning. But many people neglect to ask one simple, but highly important, question: who determines your mission?
You may assume, as many people do, that you should determine your own purpose, plans, and mission. And it’s easy to see why you and I would want to invent this assumption for ourselves. It gives us a rationale for escaping from the expectations or accountability of other people. It gives us a sense of autonomy and power. People want to be the captains of their own destiny, though admittedly most people have great difficulty figuring out what that destiny should be.
We may have an opinion, but who says that our opinion is right? And what might it cost us if we’re wrong? Is there any mission higher and weightier and truer than the one we imagine for ourselves?
Heeding the Mission-Giver
If I were to make a sandwich, it would have a purpose. If I were to make up a character in a short story, that character would have a purpose. If I were to make a highly intelligent robot, that robot would have a purpose. Where does the purpose for these things come from? Ultimately their purposes come from the being who created them.
The implication is simple. You and I were never intended to invent purposes for ourselves. We should expect our ultimate life mission to come from the One who made us.
And fortunately, we don’t have to guess what this purpose is. The Creator of humanity has revealed his mission for us in the Holy Bible. In texts like Genesis 1:26-27 and Matthew 28:19-20, God reveals that humanity is uniquely designed to fill the earth with His goodness and glory. Jesus particularly tells His people to “make disciples” – to train others to know Him and follow in His ways.
Zeal for Jesus’ Mission
For people who are unfamiliar with the person and work of Jesus, this mission may seem foolish – perhaps even offensive. But for all who have confessed the perfection of God’s moral standard and their egregious offenses against God, Jesus Christ is precious. His death in the place of sinners is a matter of humble delight.
Being a part of his mission – making disciples – becomes something we actually want to do. This is because we personally have experienced his transforming work in our hearts and minds. We recognize that we deserved the fires of Hell – we once were rebels who rejected God, his authority, and his grace. But while we were enemies, Christ died for us – God pursued us to save us, to renew us, and to recommission us. So we embrace Christ’s mission, wanting others to know the same grace God has shown us.
This zeal for this mission isn’t something that we conjure up by trying to make ourselves feel guilty, or by giving ourselves a pep talk. Zeal for Jesus Christ’s mission comes when His Spirit works through His Word to convince our minds and capture our hearts. The more we are enraptured with the beauty and worthiness of Jesus, the more earnest we will be to pray and proclaim the gospel. May God show us more of his mercy, and grant us to show more of his majesty, so that our neighborhoods and all nations would behold his glory.
