His Mission

I believe I came to understand what God’s mission is after reading and studying a beautiful book by Henry Blackeby that has blessed many brothers and sisters around the world. ‘Experiencing God’ is one of those books that opens the spiritual eyes of everyone who reads it.

One of the principles it teaches is that we must be attentive to God’s missionary work so that we can join Him where He is working and take part in His redemptive work. It is not just a matter of doing evangelism, which is good, or of evangelizing, which is better, but of working with God so that people may restore their relationship with Him. The mission is not ours, but God’s. His motivation rests in His love for the lost. God loves the world even though the world does not love Him. Each of us, as part of the body of Christ, has the privilege of participating in His mission. God has a redemptive plan for humanity, and you and I are part of that plan.

Jesus tells us: “And anyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matt. 19:29).

God’s mission cannot be reduced merely to lovely projects and efforts to reach unbelievers with the gospel and bring them to conversion, or to going out to preach in order to swell the rolls of believers in our church; it is much more than that. According to Rolando Costa, God’s mission is the mother of theology and therefore the cornerstone on which our Christian life is founded. We will be more useful vessels to the extent that we understand this concept. God’s mission is everything: worship must be centered on God’s mission; discipleship must answer to that mission, as must service, fellowship among brothers and sisters, evangelism, and evangelization as an integral activity joined to the church’s own mission (making disciples). The church serves God’s mission.

Everything we do in Christ must fit into God’s redemptive plan for the world, into His saving and persevering mission. If we understand God’s missionary heart for the world, we will also understand our place as Christians within His plan and be willing to join Him in whatever area He calls us to serve.

Jesus traveled through the towns, healing the sick and comforting those who suffered. His mission centered on those excluded and marginalized by society. From His own lips we hear that He came to “announce good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the captives, give sight to the blind, set the oppressed free, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).

The Great Commission is not just about doing missions, but about our way of life, our spiritual growth, the expectations God has of us, and the way He works in us and through us to fulfill His mission: that people may restore their relationship with Him and that we may all share in establishing His Kingdom.

Are you going through wildernesses where you believe God cannot help you? Do you feel discouraged when you assess your Christian life? Do you think you are incapable of carrying out the many tasks of God’s mission in your own life? Remember that God no longer needs to show you a burning bush that is not consumed to get your attention. Christ is your burning bush. He is not consumed. His heart burns with passion and compassion for the lost; He weeps over the hunger for spiritual nourishment and for food brought about by the selfishness of the ungodly person or of the hypocrite who claims to be a Christian yet shares nothing from his overflowing barns, whose contents spill out.

He is not looking at what you are now, but at what you can become if you surrender yourself to His will and place yourself in His hands. An evangelist is not someone who preaches the gospel, but someone who testifies to and clearly reflects in their life all the values of the Kingdom. You are at the center of His mission!

God bless you!