Larry Osborne, author of, “Thriving in Babylon”, wrote, “Our great assignment is to go out into all the world and recruit Jesus followers, teaching them to obey everything he taught us. Jesus never told us to create a Christian nation, impose our standards on nonbelievers, or preserve a particular culture. He told us to win over the lost.”
That is the mission of every follower of Christ. We are to live our lives in a way that draws others to Him. We are to tell others about His love, His beauty, and His character. Everything we do and every word we say should be to point others to Jesus.
There are two strategic extremes among Christians when it comes to witnessing for Christ. One extreme says we should use every conversation to tell someone about Jesus and their need for Him. The other extreme is not to overtly speak about Christ but to live in such a way it compels others to ask us what makes us different. As a wise mentor once told me, the truth is generally found in the middle of two extremes. I think there are times when we must be bold and speak the name of Jesus. There is such power in His name and it always evokes a response of some kind. I also believe we should always live a life reflecting the one Jesus lived. We should be humble, listen far more than we speak, be outrageously generous, and demonstrate constant compassion. This too will demand a response from those who do not share our belief.
Our mission is not to succeed by the standards of our culture. It is not to accumulate wealth and possessions. Our mission is to tell others about Jesus. I don’t think it matters how we go about doing this, so long as we are doing it. It needs to be the focus of our lives. Nothing is more important than realizing people who don’t know Christ will suffer an eternity separated from His presence. We have glimpses into what this might look like. There are debates about how much of the description we find of Hell in Scripture is literal and how much is figurative. We can debate that another time because I am certain we can all agree that Hell is not a place we would wish on our worst enemy. Regardless of the particulars of spending an eternity in Hell, it won’t be good. We’ve got to do all we can to help others avoid such a destination.
You may want a different mission in life. Perhaps you are looking for something a bit more glamorous or at least a mission providing some comfort along the way. That’s not the way of Jesus. It isn’t the way of the cross. Our mission requires sacrificing selfish pleasures, dreams, and indulgences. Our lives must be all about His life which in turn means our lives must be sacrificed on behalf of others. We know our mission. We must be about bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to the same reality on earth as it is in Heaven. This won’t happen unless and until we make telling others about the hope we have in Jesus the only priority in our lives. This isn’t optional. This is the mission. Are you in?