The other day I was laughing with a few friends about the
things we used to be afraid of. My
biggest fear when I was five was E.T.
The little alien who simply wanted to make it back home had me
absolutely terrified. Cruelly, my
parents got me the movie for my fifth birthday and I hid through the entire
film. Recently I have been thinking of
how my fears have changed over the years, going from E.T. to going to the
orthodontist, to entering high school, to having to leave high school, to
growing up and learning how to walk in God’s path. But a fear that has been drawing more of my
attention is one that is not my own, but belongs to my parents.
My parents
decided about a year and a half ago that they would quit their jobs and go into
the mission field. They have notified
their jobs, sold our house, and have been accepted as full time missionaries in
Go MAD (Make A Difference) Ministry.
There they will be helping to run a health clinic at a school and
working with sex trafficking slaves. One
would think their biggest fear for all of this might be safety, financial
support, or leaving behind their old lives,
but recently the biggest one they have been fearful of is having our
friends or family turn their backs on them.
While many people have been fully encouraging and uplifting, there are
also quite a few that do not agree and that have not been afraid to share that
with my parents. Needless to say, not
having the support of some close friends and relatives has been very difficult
on them. I did not understand why anyone
would not be supportive of their listening to and obeying God, and I quickly
realized that the only way to know how to handle this situation would be to
turn to God.
God has
placed 1 Thessalonians 2:4 on my heart lately.
In the New Living Translation this reads, “For we speak as messengers
approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not
people. He alone examines the motives of
our hearts.” This passage has brought
joy to my heart. In this I have seen
three truths as to why we should not be fearful to follow God’s call into
missions, or of other people’s objecting words.
These are because God trusts us with His message, we are working for
God, and lastly because God knows our hearts.
The first
truth that God trusts us with His message is both extremely joyous and
overwhelming when first heard. God’s
message is the greatest news we will ever here.
The One who is of highest power, who created the earth and everything in
it, has not only conquered death through His beloved son, but has made it so we
never have to be apart from Him. God has
the victory and loves us, and has sent His Spirit to live with us and guide
us. Nothing we ever hear will be able to
beat this. Not only has God told us
this, but He trusts us with this message.
God calls us and commands that we tell the world of the best news we
have ever heard. Psalm 96:3 says “Declare
His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!” It is
God’s plan for us to spread this message like fire. Hearing that we are God’s plan can seem very
intimidating at first, until we remember that God will guide us. His Spirit is with us, so we need to remember
that it is God working in us to complete His task. That is the only way we are able to
accomplish it. When God calls us to
missions He is not only trusting us with His precious message, but is fully
equipping us to deliver it.
The second
truth that we are working for God is very applicable in our daily lives. The verse says that it is our purpose to
please God, not people. This should come
as a huge relief. So often we put our
worth into pleasing others, especially as a young female. One of the last things we would want to do is
upset someone or have someone not like us.
But this passage states it pretty clearly that making sure others are
happy with us is not what is important.
I have found that a great majority of the time when we please God we end
up pleasing others as well, but God wants the focus on Him. Jesus tells us that our most important
commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. He calls
this the first and greatest commandment, then tells us the second is to love
your neighbor has yourself. While Jesus
is not disregarding the importance of others, He shows us that still God is
greater. We are to love people, but
listen to God’s voice above theirs. We
need others to partner with us as God’s Kingdom and to pray for us constantly,
but ultimately God is our authority.
This means that, without a question, our call to missions from God
should be trusted and obeyed over other people’s doubts or offending words.
The last
truth that we see in 1 Thessalonians 2:4 is the truth that God knows our
hearts. Our God is all knowing, more-so
than we could even imagine. God knows
the motives of our hearts, and that means that only He has the ability to judge
our actions. We do not have to be
fearful of other’s thoughts or opinions, because they do not know our hearts
like our God does. Other good news that
goes along with God knowing our hearts is that this means God knows what we are
capable of. He will never send us into anything
that we are not able to handle, or that we are not able to handle without His
help. When applying this to God sending
us as His messengers, ultimately this truth should leave us fearless. God will equip us when He sends us to spread
His message.
If anyone
has any doubts about obeying their call from God to missions, I sincerely hope
this verse would clear that up for them.
God has given us the greatest news of His victory and trusts us to tell
the world of it, expanding His Kingdom to the ends of the earth. He tells us that we only need to focus on
pleasing Him, because He is our King.
All the while God lets us see that He completely knows us, making it so
we can put our full trust in Him. No
matter if God is sending us across the country or calling us to stay and serve
in our own community while praying for those going afar, we can put our
complete faith into the plan that God has for us. We can be fearless in doing the work of our
God. No fear of ours’ or anyone else’s
can prevent the spread of God’s Kingdom.
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