Missions
Sorry for two posts in one day but this has just really been on my heart lately.
I think sometimes we forget that even if we are not called to international missions, we are called to missions. Take missions out of the New Testament and you have no New Testament. It's easy to forget how important just loving your neighbor is or buying a total strangers groceries. Who would ever do that in America? Not many people I know, or until now, not even myself. God call us to serve in whatever capacity he sees fit for you. It's not about what crazy country you go to or how great some revival was, it's about love--everything boils down to love. We tend to loose sight of the fact that you can give without love but you cannot love without giving. That's such a hard concept.
For our Bible study, we did missionary quotes. Here are some that really hit home for me and I hope that make you think as well:
"Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave of wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it." E. Lutzer
"Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth." John Wesley
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
"We talk of the Second Coming; half the world had never heard of the first." Oswald J. Smith
“The most common view held by Americans is that poverty is the absence of things… (But) perhaps the greatest mistake commonly made by those who strive to help the poor is the failure to see the assets and strengths that are always present in people and their communities no matter how poor they are. Seeing their glasses as half full rather than half empty can completely change our approach to helping.” — The Hole in Our Gospel
I think sometimes we forget that even if we are not called to international missions, we are called to missions. Take missions out of the New Testament and you have no New Testament. It's easy to forget how important just loving your neighbor is or buying a total strangers groceries. Who would ever do that in America? Not many people I know, or until now, not even myself. God call us to serve in whatever capacity he sees fit for you. It's not about what crazy country you go to or how great some revival was, it's about love--everything boils down to love. We tend to loose sight of the fact that you can give without love but you cannot love without giving. That's such a hard concept.
For our Bible study, we did missionary quotes. Here are some that really hit home for me and I hope that make you think as well:
"Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave of wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it." E. Lutzer
"Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth." John Wesley
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
"We talk of the Second Coming; half the world had never heard of the first." Oswald J. Smith
“The most common view held by Americans is that poverty is the absence of things… (But) perhaps the greatest mistake commonly made by those who strive to help the poor is the failure to see the assets and strengths that are always present in people and their communities no matter how poor they are. Seeing their glasses as half full rather than half empty can completely change our approach to helping.” — The Hole in Our Gospel
Comments
Post a Comment