Good morning,
When
I was growing up, missions meant far away places and strange languages
and bugs and snakes and nasty witch doctors and wonderful stories of
people who had never heard the good news who finally found Jesus as
their Savior. Both my wife Jean and I felt called to be missionaries
before we were 10 and eventually did the schooling that qualified us to
go to one of those places in Africa. Ethiopia in those days did have
jungles and snakes and a growing church. There were all kinds of
stories that came with our work, but then because of health issues in
our family we had to return to the United States. I was really
frustrated with God when it became obvious that we had to stay home.
The Lord kindly reminded me that his mission field was the world, and
since I was still in this world I was still assigned to do the work of a
missionary. After years of ministry here as a pastor the Lord began to
show me that missions wasn’t just geography or church work, but was a
part of a plan that would put any of God’s kids in touch with the people
that he had been preparing to be a part of his eternal family.
Jesus,
the Creator, the promised Messiah, the healer and awesome teacher made
it clear that the only people he could help were the ones that his
Father had prepared for an eternal relationship with himself. John 3:
16 is really true. God really does love everyone in the world. God is
the one who is working in some way in the minds and hearts of every
living person in the world. He is the one who is doing the internal
work that makes it possible for people like us, or totally different
than us, to accept the truth of the eternal life he is planning for
them. The Lord sends us to the right place at the right time to be a
part of living out the Good News for them to see in action. We are
always surrounded by people who will accept the love of Jesus, or reject
the wonderful salvation he offers. We are living billboards to those
around us of what happens to a person when they become a part of God’s
family. It’s not our goodness, but God’s inner working that is the key
to their eternal decision. No matter where we are, we are part of God’s
plan to share the Good News. May God help us to be world missionaries
at home, or to the ends of the earth to finish God’s work in people’s
lives.
John 6:44 For no one can come to me unless the
Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise
them up. 45 As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught
by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes
to me.
Roy Wisner
