If you ever come out for missions because you think that it is fun, you may be out for a surprise. Mission is not just fun, a times it is challenging. However, what always draw my heart to missions is the fulfillment in it, the experience and the lessons involved. Doing Missions has been renewing, fulfilling and a time when my spiritual life is rejuvenated. This I believe is what people will find in missions but they find it easy to say that it was fun doing it.
May be it is because of lacking a language to express the true feeling after doing mission. Some may be mislead by the term fun and hence give themselves for mission thinking fun only to discover challenges beyond imagination. Reading books about missions will tell you that those who have done it before did not do it because of fun but because of calling. If you talked with many missionaries, they will tell you that the reason they continue to live among unreached people in challenging areas where comfort is long forgotten is because of a call. They heard a call and so they went out to serve and to preach the Gospel of the one who called them. They fear that going back home will be a disappointment to the caller. Since the caller is supreme, they are assured of His protection.
There is nothing wrong in having fun in the Mission field. The question is what is a mission field??where??Lodwar??Wajir??Garissa??West-Pokot?? what of where I work??In my office??Career path??Hospital??What if am working with KTN??Having Fun with kids during PPI and in my sunday school class...do all this qualify to be Mission. Can Mission be defined as all that God has called the christians to do?? NO WONDER Paul writes to us saying REJOICE and Again I say Rejoice...Serving the Lord has many heart aches.....but we ought to serve the Lord with Gladness and Joyful hearts.
ReplyDeleteb.kay. The question here is not whether having fun in the mission field is good or bad, in fact I would love to have a lot of it. But the question is whether missions is fun. My argument is that there is something deeper than fun. And i think to rejoice and to have fun are different . The scripture you quote is rightly talking about rejoicing not having fun.
ReplyDeleteThe definition of mission is not the problem either.
Whether Sunday school,career path or even any job and whatever involvement, sometimes fun is not the thing. Fulfillment is major. I welcome more views.