Today was day 2 of our week on being kingdom people and being on mission to the world. Reading the book Radical, by David Platt, a few months ago pretty radically shaped my view of world missions. He said a lot about going and bringing the gospel to the world, but one thing in particular stuck out. I don’t have the book with me so I can’t pull the exact quote, but it went something like this. As Americans, we like to say that where we live is our mission field. And it is. Except, how many of us actually go out of our way to share the gospel with anyone we come in contact in our everyday lives. (I’m just going to speak for myself and say that, while I’m working to change this, I’ve never actually shared the gospel with anyone just going about my daily life.) On top of the fact that very few of us actually actively share the gospel with people as we’re living our lives, assuming that God only wants us to share Christ right where we live is saying that you only care about probably less than 1% of the people God cares about. ALL of the people in the world are people God created. He loves them all. He wants them all to be in a saving relationship with Him. He wants them all to be in Heaven with Him. Consequently, Platt says that we all need to have a heart for sharing Christ with the world, because that is God’s heart. Nothing new, I know, but I’d just never thought of it like that I guess. I just assumed that missions wasn’t my thing (whatever that means) and that someone who was called to missions would do that work. Platt argues that we are ALL called, as a basic Christian calling, to missions.

Following that book, we went to Peru for a week. There, my eyes were opened in an even more tangible way, as we stayed with some college friends who were missionaries. It was a good trip in so many ways for me. It was convicting, because these were just normal people, just like us, living life in Peru with the express purpose of sharing Christ with those living there. All of a sudden, the call to share Christ with the world became so much more real. It’s like God was showing me again that His call to go out and make disciples of all nations applies to us all, because here we were with people just like us, living out that mission.

Anyway, so I’ve been thinking about that some this week. I’ve been thinking about both how to live missionally right where we are, because for the time being, it’s where we are. And I know we have friends, neighbors and people I come in contact with regularly, like the woman at the dry cleaners, who don’t know Jesus. We live right across the street from a Hindu temple and I know there are so many right around us who worship there. And I have yet to do a single thing to share Jesus with them.

On Tuesday mornings, I’m doing Jennie Allen’s Chase Bible study. It has been really good. What keeps sticking with me after each class, as we study the life of David, is this: David lived like God was real. He knew God was real and He lived like that. And how different would my life be if I really did that, day in and day out. How much more urgency would I have in sharing Christ with those around me? How much more boldness would I have, to share the Truth in love without worrying about offending, because I know their souls are at stake. How much more love and kindness would be overflowing out of me, as a result of being near to God. How different would my priorities be? How different would I be, knowing how small I am in light of our great God?

I believe God is real. I believe He is alive, active, and seeking a relationship with us as we seek one with Him. I kinda feel like the last (almost) 2 months have been a bit of a hibernation period, where God has been working on our hearts and our minds. There was a tiny section today, where Blackaby asked us to check boxes that characterize our relationship with God. I was SO encouraged because, while there is so much growth still to be had in my relationship with Him, I was able to check boxes like “alive” and “personal”, “real” and “growing”. A few months ago, if I was being honest, I wouldn’t have been able to check those.

Over the last 52 days, He’s been picking us up and drawing us back to Him. He’s been revealing parts of who He is and how He’s working in our lives. He’s been showing us that He is real and with us. And now, I feel like He’s saying — go and live like that. Go and live like I’m real. Listen to my voice, follow what I call you to and share me with those around you.

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