What is most important to God?
This morning I was praying for the ministry I am involved in and for God’s direction in how to best meet the needs of the people I am ministering to. I was led to a scripture I do not ever recall focusing on.
Jer 9:23-24 states: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.‘ declares the Lord.”
What does this mean? I believe that our number one calling as missionaries, whether we are full time, part time, or on short term mission trips is to help people know and understand the heart and character of God.
I think at times it is easy to lose our focus. We get focused on other things, often they are good things. But are they God things? We can teach people to speak another language, or how to take good care of their bodies, or how to get out of poverty, or how to rebuild after a hurricane but that is not enough . We need to teach them about God.
I spent close to four months in the gulf coast helping with hurricane Katrina relief efforts. I believe we were effective because we focused on sharing the love of God with people as we helped them to rebuild. We saw people come to Christ as we deliberately shared and cared for them.
I am glad to be a part of a minsitry that is involved in helping people. I am thrilled that we can help people learn to speak english through ESL. I am overjoyed that we can help people get back on their feet after a hurricane. I am excited we can work with athletes as they learn to play football. I am pleased to work with our native American community. These are all good things.
What I am most excited about is seeing people come into a knowledge and a relationship with Christ. That is why I do what I do. That is why we do what we do at C.O.I. That is why we need more short term mission teams.
