Trifocal Lenses

20 09 2021

In chapter three of the book, Spirituality for the Sent, Susan Booth proposes that we must hold three dimensions in proper focus: spiritual, missional, and global.

Spiritual

As believers, we are called to be disciples of Jesus. This process of discipleship is made possible by the work of the Holy Spirit through the practice of spiritual disciplines. Just like physical health comes as a result of the disciplines of healthy eating and exercise, spiritual health is produced by a combination of spiritual disciplines empowered by the Holy Spirit, such as Bible reading and prayer.

This process of becoming a disciple of Jesus, called sanctification, should produce the fruit of being obedient to the commands of Jesus. All too often, though, the disciplines simply become an end unto themselves. We see this in church all of the time. People who call themselves Christians come to church week after week. Some read their Bibles. Some pray. Some even teach classes. However, most of these have never shared the Gospel. Most of these will never live their lives intentionally as missionaries where they live, work, and play. The vast majority will never even think about how God could use them to reach the unreached people groups of the world.

Developing spirituality through the spiritual disciplines is essential for every believer, and it should always move us into the missional sphere.

Missional

In the process of maturation as a disciple of Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit through the spiritual disciplines, one sees clearly in Scripture that obedience to the commands of Jesus impresses upon us to make disciples of other people. As a result, Christians should naturally and intentionally begin to leverage their lives to be missionaries where they live, work, and play. Whereas the spiritual disciplines look quite similar amongst all believers, this missional component will look vastly different for each individual based upon their gifts, talents, resources, location, and passions.

This will change everything about how you live your life. You will no longer see work as a place to go and earn money, but you now see it as the place where God has planted you in order to expand His Kingdom. You no longer see your hobby of fishing as a means of escape from the world, but as an opportunity to bring someone along as you disciple them. You no longer see your home as a place to cater to your needs and watch television, but as a strategic base located in a neighborhood full of people that need to hear about grace.

3 Cautions:

  1. We must not do the missional component without the spiritual component. If we try to do it on our own power, we will fail. Missions flows out of the spiritual disciplines.
  2. We should not wait to do the work of making disciples until we have perfected our spirituality. Sanctification is a life-long process that we will never perfect this side of Heaven. We must begin obeying the commands of Jesus simultaneously with our spiritual disciplines.
  3. Do not stop with your location. Go global.

Global

Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:18-20 is clear that we are not just to make disciples of those around us, but we are also to make disciples of all people groups. This is NOT a general statement that we can just ignore, but a specific, strategic command given by our Lord to reach all of the people groups.

In his book, In This Generation by Todd Ahrend, he uses a helpful illustration to explain Jesus’ command: Let us say there are 5 ships and all 5 of these ships are on fire. The coast guard has one helicopter and is commanded to save as many people as they can before they all sink. Their strategy would be to go to the closest ship and grab all of the people they can and continue to that ship and the next closest ones to get as many people as they can. However, if they were ordered to get as many people as they can from each ship, their strategy would change.

Jesus’ command is clear that we are to go to every tribe, tongue, and people group, not to just stay where we are and get the people closest to us. This being the case, it is imperative for every believer to work toward this goal. Each follower of Christ must ask themselves how they are to accomplish this mandate. For some, it might mean moving overseas. For others, it might mean working with refugees in our country. For all, it could mean giving to missions, praying for the unreached people groups, helping to support and send other missionaries, etc. Just like the missional component, the global component will look different for everyone as you take into account your gifts, talents, resources, and passions.

Conclusion

I would highly recommend reading the book, Spirituality for the Sent edited by Nathan A. Finn and Keith S. Whitfield. It is a fantastic book that is focused on finally wedding together the spiritual disciplines movement with the missional movement. Each chapter is written by a different person from a different perspective. Although I do not agree with everything presented in the book, I very much appreciated how thought-provoking it was as a whole.


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5 Ways To Launch Missions

22 01 2018
launchmissions

Your church only does a couple of mission trips every year and very rarely even talks about missions. You want to launch missions to the next level, but it seems like a daunting task. It doesn’t have to be.

Over 7 years ago I started at a church that asked me to take their mission efforts to the next level. It wasn’t easy, and I made plenty of mistakes. But I learned a few things along the way that were successful.

These 5 ways to launch missions are things that you can easily do in your church with a little bit of effort and creativity.

  1. EDUCATION  If someone forced me to only name one thing that is the most important to do in order to change the mission culture of the church, I would say, without hesitation, education. I have always believed that my church is full of good people who, if they only had basic mission knowledge, would rise up to the challenge. I have found this to be true. An invaluable book that I have passed out like candy to increase education is John Zumwalt’s A Passion For The Heart Of God. And the best class on missions is Perspectives.
  2. KEY INFLUENCERS  You need to sit down and make a list of the key influencers in your church – not just those in formal leadership positions, but also those people who pull the strings behind the scenes. Heavily recruit these people to go on a mission trip with you. You know that short-term mission trips change the lives of those who go. If your key influencers go, they will come back and champion missions in your church.
  3. PARTNERSHIPS  Don’t do a trip to a different, exotic location every year. Find missionaries or church planters to form a long-term partnership with. Make these incredible people family to your church. Treat them as the heroes they are when they come to visit. You will quickly find that people care more about missions when it ceases to be an abstract idea and becomes a real live family that are making real live disciples.
  4. REPORTING  You have to tell the stories. Five years from now you will never remember your pastor’s finely crafted three points, but you will remember many of his stories. You need to use any and every means possible to get stories out, including videos, social media, newsletters, etc. One of the best things that we do is to produce a short (no more than 4 minutes) video every week to show in every small group. It is a lot of work, but has been well worth it.
  5. CULTURE  Changes in culture don’t happen overnight. But they do happen slowly as a result of a lot of hard, intentional work. To launch missions to the next level missions has to be more than a separate ministry. It must become the heartbeat of the church. To see a culture change you must be willing to aggressively and persistently do all of the above. After doing these things, over time you begin to see subtle changes that indicate that the culture is changing, like the pastor talking about missions in his sermons, church members taking ownership in the partnerships, missions giving increasing, etc.

Launching missions is much like launching a rocket… there is a ton of preparation, but when it takes off, it is spectacular and worth all of the hard work to see it bring God glory!


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8 Ways To Mission-Minded Kids

26 06 2017

mission-mindedkids

If our purpose is to make disciples of all nations, our children’s purpose is the same. As parents our first disciples are our children, and it is our responsibility to teach them about our purpose as believers on the planet. All too often, though, we teach them the opposite through our actions. Every year birthday parties become more extravagant, gifts get more expensive, sports and activities take the place of church attendance, and our children learn that the world revolves around them. In order to help our children become mission-minded, we must be intentional in teaching them. Here are 8 ways to help get you there…

  1. Go on a mission trip. This may seem obvious, but your children need to see that you are serious about missions. They need to see you sacrifice vacation time and finances to go and make a difference. This sets an example for them. Also, it is not always possible, but try to go on a family mission trip. Every year my family goes together on a family mission trip to an Indian Reservation in Wyoming, and it is the best thing! We get to minister together, and my boys get to see my wife and I share the good news with others.
  2. Host missionaries in your home. Get to know missionaries and invite them to your home for dinner. Let your kids be around them and hear their stories. Let your children get to know the missionary’s children. They can even become pen pals or email pals. This will help your children become aware of missions because it is directly affecting someone they have grown to care about.
  3. Attend mission events. I know many churches host some kind of mission celebration at least once per year. Every time our church has a missionary visit us, we host a special lunch or dinner that we invite the whole church to. Be sure and take your kids to hear the missionary’s presentation, plus you get a free meal! If at all possible take your children to a missionary appointment service. These are hosted by our sending organization periodically throughout the year, plus now they are even live-streaming them. If your church does nothing like this, find a church that does or start it in your church! You only get one shot with your kids. Don’t take them to a church that does nothing with missions.
  4. Pray for mission teams that have been sent out. As your church sends teams out, be sure and pray for them with your children. This reminds them that they are apart of a church that sends, and it teaches them the importance and power of prayer.
  5. Learn about and pray for unreached people groups. Go to the Joshua Project and pick out an unreached people group or pick a group that your church is partnered with. Help your children learn all about the group and begin to regularly pray for them. Another great resource is Operation World.
  6. Support missions. Let your children see you give towards missions and missionaries. Encourage them to give out of their own resources. At our church, we provide a multitude of ways to support missions by giving towards people going, purchasing items for missionaries, buying diapers for our local pregnancy center, etc. Participate in as many of these things as you can, and do not hide it from your children. Support also includes encouragement. Have your children make cards and encouraging notes to send to missionaries.
  7. Encourage your children to read mission biographies. Expose your children to the great Christian men and women of our past, and it may inspire them to become the same. A great resource for this is YWAM’s Christian Heroes: Then and Now Series.
  8. Have your children take Perspectives. This class is life-changing! If it is available in your area, you need to take it yourself and then have your kids take it. This class would not be good for small children, but both of my older boys took the class when they were 16 and did well. This class is well worth the investment in time and money.

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Business For Missions

9 05 2017

businessformissions

Here’s how it works… We are told that we ought to give 10% of our income to the church. That fraction of our income goes towards many things to make sure the church is operating, mostly towards ministries directed to the spiritual growth of its members. Depending on the church, a small percentage of that pot of money goes towards missions in some form or fashion. Usually about once or twice per year, the church takes up a one-time offering that goes towards missions preceded by tear-jerking videos to get us to give more. This is how the church in general has operated for quite some time. I just do not find this model of church the most God-glorifying or the most Biblical or adequate to complete the Great Commission.

Our tithe (10%) to the church is based upon an Old Testament principle. There is certainly nothing wrong with giving away a portion of your income, and an argument can be made that this is a Biblical principle. However, Jesus never commanded the tithe. Jesus always asked for more, specifically everything. He asks us to give our whole lives for the mission, not a token amount. In talking about money, the least that Jesus ever seemed to be satisfied with was when Zacchaeus said he would give half of his money to the poor and pay back anyone he cheated four times over (Luke 19:1-10). Most of the time, Jesus asked for everything when someone wanted to follow Him.

All across the world our churches are full of Godly people that are wise business people, savvy investors, and risk-taking entrepreneurs. What we teach and ask of these people is to simply give 10% of their income to the church. The rest of the money that they earn is theirs to spend as they please. Understand that I am not suggesting that God is calling all of these people to give every last penny to the church. What I am suggesting is that God is calling them to leverage their lives, gifts, and talents to be the most effective for completing the Great Commission. If that means they give all of their money away, then so be it. But what if, however, they are given the opportunity within the church to use their talents and gifts to make money for the mission of the church. Instead of a one-time gift of all their finances, they create significant income streams for the express purpose of financing the work of missions now and into the future. We allow this for all sorts of people in our churches. If you have the gift of teaching, you are signed up to teach! If you are gifted with children, we have a spot for you! Why not tent-makers (entrepreneurs)?

This idea of churches creating income streams to support missions is not without precedent. There is a church nearby who started a popular coffee shop in order to fund their orphanage in another country. There is a church who started a thrift store to supplement their mission budget. There is a church that started a bakery to provide local jobs to former prostitutes and exotic dancers and provide funds for their mission endeavors. The examples go on and on, but these examples are generally what we see: small-scale businesses making a small impact. I am not saying that these smaller impacts are not significant. I am suggesting, though, that we use these as catalysts to think and dream bigger. What is keeping a church from bringing those gifted in business together to start a large, multi-million dollar company to support missions? The difference between the two is not that one is Biblical and the other not. It is simply a matter of scale.

A former leader of our denomination said correctly that for whatever reason God has tied finishing the Great Commission with finances. There is still a great need for cross-cultural missionaries, Bible translations, discipleship material, etc. All of these things cost money. The solution that is always presented to our churches is that we need to give more donations. This will just not provide the amounts that we need to finish the Great Commission at the rate at which we are going. We must dare to dream bigger!


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Go, Unless It’s Dangerous

8 05 2017

dangerous

In Revelation 22:18, we are warned not to add anything to the scriptures, but many Christians, by their actions, have added a parenthetical statement to the Great Commission. We will go and make disciples of all nations, if it is not dangerous.

Every year our church sends 300+ people on mission trips all over the world. One of our longest-running partnerships is with a fantastic orphanage in Honduras, and the perception of this particular trip is that it is perfectly safe. We also send people to countries in Central and South Asia where persecution of believers is happening, and these countries always strike more fear with our people. The funny thing is that out of all the countries we go to, Honduras is only one of two countries that have a specific State Department warning against traveling there. The reason Honduras is perceived as safe is because it does not make the nightly news. The truth is that Honduras has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and kidnapping of Westerners increases every year. Crime like this does not make the headlines. Terrorism is the popular news item of the day, and by its nature terrorism affects a very small amount of people in order to scare the masses. For many Christians, the terrorists have won. Before we took our very first trip to a country in Central Asia, Osama Bin Ladin was killed. Many people called the church telling us that we should cancel the trip. The country we were going to was not even near where this occurred. For many Christians, terrorists and fear are the determining factors on whether or not to follow the commands of Jesus.

It always surprises me that parents will worry to death about sending their students on an international trip to a very safe location, but they will not hesitate to go on a family vacation to a large city in the US. Some of the most dangerous cities in the world are found within our borders and are major tourist destinations. As a matter of fact, some of the international places we go to have lower rates of crime in the entire country than some individual cities in the US.

The point is that there is inherent risk in traveling anywhere. Going and making disciples of all people groups is inherently risky and could be dangerous. This, however, does not negate the command of Jesus. In the very same breath (one verse later in Matthew 28:20) Jesus gave us the promise of His presence. In the comfort of that Presence, there is no space for fear! Knowing that Jesus was with them, even through the most dangerous circumstances, the disciples and millions of known and unknown followers of Jesus after them charged the front lines without regard for their own safety so that the vast numbers of lost might hear of the grace of Jesus Christ. The question is simply, will we fearfully stay in disobedience or courageously go as light piercing the dark?


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Persecution in America

6 10 2015

persecutionMy eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
Philippians 1:20

In this passage of scripture, Paul is writing from prison. He has been imprisoned because of his faith in Christ. His prayer is simply that no matter what happens, Christ would be glorified, whether he lives through this persecution or he is killed. Death is a reality that he is facing as he writes this letter.

In recent years, there have been numerous Christians talking and writing about increased persecution of Christians in America. Certainly there have been instances where Christian people or businesses have been targeted expressly because they hold a Biblical worldview, but the vast majority of these do not end up in prison or dead. We have all been following the news about the mass shooting that happened in a small college in Oregon. It has been reported that the gunman was targeting Christians. There have been in the recent past other such shootings with similar stories of Christians being targeted and killed, but, not to minimize these tragedies, these events are not the norm and are usually carried out by mentally unstable people. In America today there is no widespread, systematic persecution of Christians going on where the end result is imprisonment, death, or banishment.

To say that we, as American believers, are persecuted is an insult to the many Christians that face hatred, discrimination, death, torture and imprisonment in other parts of the world simply because they have chosen to follow Jesus. Instead of crying foul at the media, sharing alarmist articles on social media, and wishing for the good ole’ days, we should be taking advantage of the unprecedented freedom that we have to share the gospel not just in our country, but in most places on the planet. The fact of the matter is that I could go out on our streets right now, share the gospel with someone, and see them become a Jesus-follower, and neither of us is going to face prison, torture, or death. If it ever comes to that, then we can start calling it persecution.

In the end, though, persecution does not matter, because all that matters is that God receives the glory. If I live in a country where persecution is the norm, then by my imprisonment, torture, and death I should see that God is glorified. If I live in America where I can share openly and freely, then by my life I should see that God is glorified.

May Paul’s prayer be our prayer! We need to quit worrying about this fallen world. God will take care of that. It should be no surprise that this country is going the direction it is going, yet we act shocked when a sinful people actually sin. We have been called to see that God receives all glory, and by His plan we are to do that by making disciples of all people groups. Paul could have easily languished in prison feeling sorry for himself. Instead he boldly witnessed so much that it could be said that the entire Imperial Roman Guard knew that he was imprisoned because of his faith in Christ. God, please, give us that same expectation and hope!


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Local Missions Challenge

2 10 2015

localmissions

I have recently been taking people in our church through a mental exercise that seems simple at first, but eventually really challenges our assumptions about missions, especially local missions. I will start out explaining to the group that we have all been called to move overseas to work with an unreached tribe. I then ask them to begin listing all of the things that we need to do to reach that tribe for Christ. This is very simple as we list things such as church planter training, language and culture acquisition, moving there, building relationships with people, sharing the gospel, etc. It seems that many people understand the concept of missions when we are talking about a foreign place or even simply moving to another town. The trick is when I turn the conversation into how do we go about doing missions locally where we live. Minds begin to blow up at this point.

We have been trained that missions is really done by a specially called and trained minority of Christians that move somewhere to do it full-time. When asked about what we can do locally to reach people, we usually think of one-shot good deeds, like feeding the homeless. Missions is easy if all we have to do is go to a particular place one Saturday morning and hand out some food, but is that really missions? We have already seen what missions looks like when a missionary moves to another country. We understand that! So, the question is… Why is it so hard to transfer our strategy for reaching an unreached tribe to reaching the homeless that live in our home town? I think the answer is that we do not see ourselves as missionaries. It is easier to go do a good deed on Saturday morning, feel good about ourselves, and make it back in time for the good football games.

I believe that we all need to shift our thinking towards the fact that Jesus’ commands were not for a spiritually elite, but were for all to obey. We must learn to see ourselves as missionaries where we live. The goal of any missionary is to see a reproducing, indigenous church. The goal should be the same for a believer working with the homeless in their home town. We need to ask greater questions than just… How do I get someone’s belly full for a day? We need to be asking questions such as… How do we most effectively share the gospel with the homeless? How do we make them disciples? We need to apply the same strategies used in reaching an unreached tribe to reach the homeless, such as… getting trained, learning the culture and language, moving there, building relationships, sharing the gospel, etc.

The realization that I am a missionary changes everything. It changes how I view my work or vocation. It changes how I interact with my neighbors. If I truly am a missionary, God has sent me into the neighborhood in which I currently live. The easy part is that you already know the culture and language. That takes foreign missionaries years to acquire. Maybe you just need some training, and you definitely need to introduce some intentionality into your missionary living. As a missionary, you can no longer just let your kids sign up and play soccer. You now must understand that in God’s sovereignty He has placed your child on that particular team, because He wants you around those particular parents in order for you to be His ambassador of reconciliation. You must also train your children in the Lord by teaching them that God has placed them as a missionary on that team. I hope you see how powerful this change or shift in perception is. I believe that if just a small fraction of believers would understand and implement this lifestyle, it would change our city.


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The End

28 09 2015

theendAnd this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14 ESV

Last night, many of you went out to see the lunar eclipse take place. In our area, it was a beautiful night to do so. My family had to pick me up late at the airport, and on the way home we stopped in a big, dark parking lot to enjoy the view. It is always funny how events like this get Christians stirred up about end time prophecy. Many church-goers love to talk and debate about when the end will come and what it will be like. I saw multiple shares on Facebook this last week concerning these topics. Pastors love to preach through the book of Revelation, because it gets people to come to church. The problem with most talking and preaching on this subject is that it is pure speculation. I remember when I was in high school that we had a guest preacher come and talk about how Jesus was going to return in 1996. He had all kinds of Biblical “proof.”

I am all for reading the book of Revelation! John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote that we are blessed if we read it (Revelation 1:3), but we have to be careful when interpreting the meaning of John’s apocalyptic language. I believe that Jesus gave us this book to give us hope, not information about how things are going to exactly play out.

The funny thing is that when talking about end time prophecy, most people do not talk about the most definitive statement on Jesus’ return ever. Plus, this statement came from Jesus himself. In Matthew 24, Jesus’ disciples have come to him and have asked him the same question that we want to know: When will the end take place? Jesus proceeds to tell them about things to watch out for, including wars, famines, earthquakes, and false teachers. Jesus then says that at some point the gospel will be preached all over the world as a witness to every ethnic group. When enough people from every ethnic group on earth receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, Jesus says very plainly, “…and then the end will come.” The end of the age is not contingent upon a lunar eclipse or a certain country invading another or the increase of evil. These are signs that the end is coming, but the end itself will only take place when the Great Commission is completed. This is further confirmed in Revelation 7:9 when John looks and sees a multitude from every ethnic group worshipping the Lamb.

The exciting part about all of this is that we have never been so close. With a concerted effort the Church could possibly get missionaries to every ethnic group within a short time span. That effort is underway but needs more help and finances. As Christians, if we truly long for the return of Jesus, we would be doing all we can to fulfill the Great Commission. How awesome would it be to be apart of the generation that got to usher in the return of Jesus!

I believe that God has given our generation the ability and the potential to finish His task of getting the gospel to every ethnic group, but it will take each of us as individuals to come under His Lordship and follow Him with utter abandon to the uttermost parts of the world. Let events like last night’s lunar eclipse or the world news spur us on to get the gospel to unreached people groups, because it is only then that the end will come.


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Let It Be Said of Me

6 08 2014

doc
On July 28th at about 10am my family and I were driving to Moab to go see Arches National Park when I received an email saying that Charles Whitlow had passed away. It was not a complete shock as he had been battling cancer for quite a while, but I don’t think anyone is ever truly ready for the inevitable. For as far back as my memory takes me, I remember Doc being in church and always coming or going on some mission trip. Little did I know, at the time, what an impact he would have on my life. Doc was one of the strong influences on my life for stepping into the Great Story of God and following the command of Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations. He was on my first trip to Tanzania. It was on that trip that I called Jennifer to tell her that this is where we are moving. I will never forget the last words that Doc and I shared in the lobby at church before I was to leave on another mission trip just a few weeks before he passed away. As we both cried, he hugged me and talked about how moving it was to see all of the people going out into the mission field from our church. Doc’s legacy is a huge part of why the flame of missions burns so brightly in Grand and in my life.

I went to Doc’s funeral just this past Monday. I actually brought my boys to this funeral, because I knew it was going to be different. Doc certainly did not disappoint. Passed out at the doors was an insert of words that Doc wanted to leave people with, and those words spoke boldly of the love of Jesus being the fuel for mission’s flame. His youngest, Stuart Whitlow, shared the funeral message and did a masterful job of not only honoring the man but honoring his God above all. He spoke of how his Dad was compelled to go, not just for the sake of going, but because of his passionate love for his Savior, Jesus Christ. He concluded his funeral message with the words that you would best honor Doc by going.

On that long road through the high desert of Southern Utah, I remember thinking about funerals in general. Most funerals typically make people think about their eternal destination, and rightly so! But I knew that Doc’s funeral was going to go farther. Doc’s life challenged believers not only to look forward to eternity with God in Heaven, but challenged them further to do the impossible for God while still in these mortal bodies. Jesus did not die on a cross for me so that I could just enjoy eternal security. He died and was raised to life so that I could be apart of His plan to redeem a lost world. Doc lived that life to the fullest, and I know he has now reaped the rewards of his service.

That is the funeral I want. When I die, I want people to be challenged to go. I want revival to come from my death if it will not come from my life. Whatever, whether in life or death, let it be said of me that I gave all for my Savior who gave His all for me.


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The Joy of Missions

19 02 2014

joyofmissions18 yet I will triumph in Yahweh;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
19 Yahweh my Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like those of a deer
and enables me to walk on mountain heights!
Habakkuk 3:18-19

One of my favorite books of all time is Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. This Christian classic is an allegory that is based around a girl named Much-Afraid who decides to give her life to and follow the Chief Shepherd with the hope of one day running on the mountains, even though now she is crippled. At the end of this tale, she is transformed in the beautiful Grace & Glory and is able to walk on the mountain heights. As she enjoys her time in the Kingdom of the Chief Shepherd, she finds herself looking back down into the Valley of Humiliation where she had come so long ago and feeling love for the very people who tormented her before. One of the last scenes in the book is of Grace & Glory running down the mountains with her head thrown back laughing, ready to share the love of the Chief Shepherd with those who need to hear and experience that love.

Most of the best times of my life were while participating in the sending of God. I will never forget the times of worshipping in a mud hut with my Tanzanian friends with nothing but a plastic bucket and a stick for accompaniment. I will never forget laughing over a game of Settlers of Catan with my friends in Central Asia. I will never forget bringing rice to a hungry village on the backwaters of the Amazon River, or eating hamburgers with college students in Anchorage, or hugging the kids at Orphanage Emmanuel. This is the throwing back of the head and laughing while running down the mountain in total abandonment to the will of God. There is no greater joy!

We were created to glorify God, and in that glorifying we experience the greatest joy. Jesus has given us the mandate to go into all the world as the way in which we glorify God, and so it is in the going that we experience our greatest joy. Church members everywhere miss out on the greatest joy of their life, because they think they are fine by just attending church, fellowshipping with other believers, reading the Bible, and listening to Christian music. These are not bad things by any means, but they are incomplete without us working towards fulfilling the mission of God. We so often waste our lives on things that might make us happy in the moment, but will never bring us the greatest enjoyment. John Piper once said, “If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”

Determine this day that you will seek the greatest joy by participating in the great mission of God.


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