On Sunday, we heard about a family serving in a restricted access country who was coming home due to threats of violence. This reminded me of several things; the first was an assignment I had to complete for a missions block course in college. The scenario was essentially the same: if threatened by violence or death, would you 1) come home, 2) send your family home but stay, or 3) all stay and suffer with the Christians in that place? A difficult decision indeed; I'm not sure what I would do.
I don't want to downplay the importance of serving God where we are at, in terms of faithfully fulfilling responsibilities. In one sense, there is no difference in terms of being pleasing to God whether I'm making tents like Aquila and serving in a local congregation or getting beaten up constantly like Paul for preaching the gospel in new places. However, for me, I was struck by the comparative insignificance of the choices I make daily. Should I read a book or go for a walk? Which restaurant should I eat at, or stay home? What time should I go to bed?
Although the accumulation of these choices will affect the course of my life over time, these decisions don't have the seeming weight of one like "Should I leave my ministry? If I don't, I will probably die." We need to be doing things that matter. Faithfully obeying God in the daily, mundane tasks of life is a part of serving God, but we can't let the stuff of life deaden us to eternally significant choices.
The important questions we should be asking are things like "Does this please God, or me?" "What value will this have in a year? Five years? Ten years?" Then we can better place priority on activities which have a lasting impact: teaching our children, building our marriages, knowing our God.
No comments:
Post a Comment