“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
~2 Timothy 2:15
~2 Timothy 2:15
One thing that keeps coming up in church and my personal study is “God-sized mission”. It’s when God gives you a task that seems impossible or too hard for you to accomplish on your own. It’s when you know you’re supposed to be doing something but refuse to do it because you’re afraid of failing or being humiliated in front of people. A good example of this is my church’s new children’s ministry. They wanted to raise a ridiculous amount of money to give the kids an amazing experience every Sunday when they came to church. It would make kids excited about coming to church. It would be awesome. But the money…it was a God-sized mission for sure. Still, I remember every Sunday they would encourage the church to give to this new project. The expected launch date was Easter Sunday 2012.
That Sunday is two days away, and I’m proud to be a part of that launch. Somehow, even though the church fell short of the money goal, they pulled it together, and as someone on the inside, it’s going to be incredible. I’m excited, and I’m not even one of the kids! It was inspiring to see so many people volunteer their time and money to help this thing come together. It’s something we as humans could have never done on our own, but God’s power is, was, and will be, shown through this ministry for a long time.
That’s the point of this whole thing, the focus of God-sized missions. They’re things you could never do on your own, things that take a heck of a lot of faith. But when it’s done, you and the people around you can see that there’s only one reason why this mission worked: the power of God. God-sized missions are your chance to let God work in you and through you to accomplish something that will bring glory to His name more than anything you could have done on your own. It’s a time for us to lay everything at His feet and say, “Okay God, this looks pretty impossible, but I know You are much more capable than I am.”
I like to think of the day that Jesus died when Good Friday comes around (dur). The disciples must have been pretty bummed out. They had just seen their God, their leader, their teacher, and their good friend murdered in a horrible way. They must have been confused. Jesus had promised them he would be with them for a long time. What were they supposed to think of those promises now? Jesus was dead!
Jesus could have left it at that. I mean, he spent a good deal of time showing God’s power to thousands of people doing things that could only be explained by the power of God. But he had something greater in mind. Sure, dying in front of his disciples and all these other people seemed like a pretty bad thing. But after three days in the grave (days I’m sure felt like a bazillion years to the disciples), he made the ultimate display of power by coming back to life. He defeated the one thing no man has ever been able to get away from. He defeated death! THAT is a God-sized mission for sure, where God’s love and power were displayed in the most incredible way I’ve ever seen.
This of course, all ties to my upcoming trip to Haiti. I tried for months to ignore the call of God to go to a different country. I was scared. What if I make a big deal out of it and don’t raise enough money? What if God calls me to be a missionary permanently? What if I get sick and die? What if this, what if that? And then all this stuff about God-sized missions started coming up. In church, in my bible study, in the home bible study I go to, pretty much everywhere I was hearing those exact words. I knew God was giving me one of those missions, and it was time for me to respond. I’m trusting God to do something greater and bigger than anything I could plan and put together on my own. He’s just using me to bring glory to His name in a crazy way. I’m simply along for the ride.
Hey, God freaking raised Jesus from the dead. How could I think for even one moment that He couldn’t send me to Haiti? That’s like, insanely easy for Him.
Have a great Easter.
That Sunday is two days away, and I’m proud to be a part of that launch. Somehow, even though the church fell short of the money goal, they pulled it together, and as someone on the inside, it’s going to be incredible. I’m excited, and I’m not even one of the kids! It was inspiring to see so many people volunteer their time and money to help this thing come together. It’s something we as humans could have never done on our own, but God’s power is, was, and will be, shown through this ministry for a long time.
That’s the point of this whole thing, the focus of God-sized missions. They’re things you could never do on your own, things that take a heck of a lot of faith. But when it’s done, you and the people around you can see that there’s only one reason why this mission worked: the power of God. God-sized missions are your chance to let God work in you and through you to accomplish something that will bring glory to His name more than anything you could have done on your own. It’s a time for us to lay everything at His feet and say, “Okay God, this looks pretty impossible, but I know You are much more capable than I am.”
I like to think of the day that Jesus died when Good Friday comes around (dur). The disciples must have been pretty bummed out. They had just seen their God, their leader, their teacher, and their good friend murdered in a horrible way. They must have been confused. Jesus had promised them he would be with them for a long time. What were they supposed to think of those promises now? Jesus was dead!
Jesus could have left it at that. I mean, he spent a good deal of time showing God’s power to thousands of people doing things that could only be explained by the power of God. But he had something greater in mind. Sure, dying in front of his disciples and all these other people seemed like a pretty bad thing. But after three days in the grave (days I’m sure felt like a bazillion years to the disciples), he made the ultimate display of power by coming back to life. He defeated the one thing no man has ever been able to get away from. He defeated death! THAT is a God-sized mission for sure, where God’s love and power were displayed in the most incredible way I’ve ever seen.
This of course, all ties to my upcoming trip to Haiti. I tried for months to ignore the call of God to go to a different country. I was scared. What if I make a big deal out of it and don’t raise enough money? What if God calls me to be a missionary permanently? What if I get sick and die? What if this, what if that? And then all this stuff about God-sized missions started coming up. In church, in my bible study, in the home bible study I go to, pretty much everywhere I was hearing those exact words. I knew God was giving me one of those missions, and it was time for me to respond. I’m trusting God to do something greater and bigger than anything I could plan and put together on my own. He’s just using me to bring glory to His name in a crazy way. I’m simply along for the ride.
Hey, God freaking raised Jesus from the dead. How could I think for even one moment that He couldn’t send me to Haiti? That’s like, insanely easy for Him.
Have a great Easter.
