Task
According to the thesaurus website, the main definitions of ‘mission’ are task and responsibility.
If ‘mission’ is a task, then the world is filled with missions as we live in a busy culture. Task-orientated people like to fill their schedules up with their tasks, whether they are for work or for school.
Since I am a task-orientated person, I like to grab any job opportunities at my sight, However, as time passes by, I have learned that I am able to grab them if they are manageable to my schedule. Due to my time-management, I grabbed some of them.
So, I am an E-Prayer Lead and a prayer calendar facilitator for my church. I am also a Kiwi young writer and photo selector for New Zealand Christian Today.
Study
I am also one of the students at Carey Baptist College. I like to study assignments in particular when I get up in the morning. Even when I'm not doing school work, I am studying as I research when I do my writing.
I drafted my last essay on the theme of discipleship and sent it to my proofreader one week before it is due. After it was sent, I was trying to finish writing three to four articles.
So, in July I can enjoy my free vacation in Sydney with my friends and do not have to worry about writing when school begins again.
I also have to work on my speech about prayer and mission as it is part of my Mission Track assignment and I want to practice my speech on those who do not go to Carey Baptist College as much as possible. Then, I will be completely ready when I have to do my speech towards Carey community.
Relationship
Nevertheless, when we participate in God’s mission, it is not only task-orientated, but it is relationship-orientated as well.
Of course, God’s mission is task-orientated as it involves bringing the message of reconciliation and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, especially those who have not heard and know about it (Matthew chapter 28, verses 18-20; 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 16-21; Acts chapter 1, verses 4-8).
But how do we bring the message of reconciliation and spread the gospel of Christ? Do we just give the message aggressively until people comprehend the message? No. We are to bring the gospel of Christ compassionately.
According to Google, the definition of reconciliation is “the restoration of friendly relations.” To restore a relationship with one another in a friendly way, Jesus commands us to love each other, just as He has loved us (John chapter 15, verses 12-17).
To put simply, we should always spread the love of God, especially when we are bringing the message of reconciliation. After all, 1 John chapter 4, verses 10-12 declares,
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The Love of God
See what God did there?
God did not choose specific people to love and see whether they deserve to receive His love but God just chose to love all kinds of people, regardless of what they have done.
In fact, Apostle Paul indicated that every people were considered enemies of God. Nevertheless, God illustrated His grace by sending His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to die for them (Romans chapter 5). Grace means to deserve what we do not deserve.
Although we do not have to die for any kind of people like Jesus did, we are to illustrate God’s grace to everyone, including our enemies, by loving others deeply.
I think this is why the greatest commandments of God is to love Him firstly, then to love others as ourselves (Mark chapter 12, verses 30-31). Loving others as ourselves illustrates how much we love God. Loving others and loving God is interlinked.
There are several people I really admire. When I think of their personality, the love of God naturally flows. I can sense the love of God within them.
When I think of my first testimony now, I believe loving others was part of God’s plan. I realise how important community is in journeying with God.
Spreading the love of God is a vital part of God’s mission and it is what we need to focus on first. But to do this effectively, I think we need to be in an intimate relationship with God since it is His love we are to share.
Meditate on 1 Corinthians chapter 13 to see how important love is.
Valentine’s Day is a romantic day between couples whether they are married or not. They value and treasure each other, spend time with each other, and so on. Since loving God and others are so important, I believe every day is meant to be Valentine’s Day. First, between us and God, then between us and others.
So, let us work to be relationship-orientated people as well as task-orientated ones, to be effective participants of God’s mission. And remember that though we are participants of God’s mission, we are also His dearly loved children! (John chapter 1, verses 9-13).
Kevin Park is studying at Carey Baptist College and finds that Christian writing is his ultimate will of God and his ultimate method to build the kingdom of God. He started to become a Christian writer from 2013. Other than his writing life, Kevin desires to see that each finds everlasting satisfaction in God, the Almighty. You will be able to contact him at kevin.park1991@gmail.com. He loves to encourage others spiritually.
Kevin Park’s previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/kevin-park.html.