Missions Misconception #1: "It's Not My Thing..."

Sometimes, we notice people involved in missions or global causes and we think of it as a hobby, sort of like someone who might be an avid fisherman, a quilter, or a skydiver.

We hear of people trying to make friends with people from other cultures and we say, “Good for them. But that’s not my hobby.”

Or we might take it up a notch and view those missional people who would try to help refugees, for example, as called to a worthy cause, in the same vein as those who advocate for natural health remedies, prayer in schools, or homeschooling.

We say, “Good for them. But my cause is different than theirs.”

I grew up as the child of expats living overseas, privy to firsthand stories of tribal groups without access to the gospel.

I even lived in a tribe as a child and still I thought, This is my parents thing. Not my mine.

But one day God opened my eyes, and I saw his plan for all nations to worship him—starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation—and that he meant for all f us to be involved in it.

Could it be that crossing cultures, being a light to the nations, wasn’t a hobby or a cause relegated to a few, but a purpose in which everyone could play a role because God planned it that way from the beginning?

God told Abraham, “I will bless you and…all the families on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2-3).

Throughout the Old Testament, God kept pressing Israel to be a light to the world, sending Jonah to the Ninevites, Daniel to the Babylonians, and Esther to the Persians.

He placed Jerusalem “at the center of the nations,” with lands around her, so the people called to stay at home could still affect the surrounding nations (Ezek. 5:5).

God told the prophet Isaiah, “I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isa. 49:6).

The apostle Peter brought Abraham’s “blessed to be a blessing to the nations” covenant right into the new Testament too. He reminded everyone that we are all descendants of Abraham and that “through your descendants all the families on earth will be blessed” (Acts 3:25).

So that means us too.

God blessed you and me with the good news so that all the nations of the earth—all the families of the earth—will be blessed with the good news through us.

The thread weaves right through to Revelation, where we catch a vision for the outcome of God’s heart for the nations. The apostle John saw the future, with heavenly creatures encircling the throne of God, saying to the lamb, who is Jesus Christ, “You are worth to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For…your blood has ransomed people for God from aevery tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9).

People from every tribe, every language, and every nation will one day stand shoulder to shoulder next to you and me in front of the throne of God!

This means that reaching out to every culture isn’t just a few people’s “thing”.

It is God’s “thing”.

The closer we come to experiencing God’s heart to see people from all nations reconciled back to him, the more our eyes will open to his heart for the whole world.

Like a blind person who could suddenly see, I too could see—through God’s eyes.

The scales fell off, and I saw millions and millions of people around the world, some of them moving in across the street, without even the opportunity to know God.

****Excerpt taken from Chapter One of Across the Street and Around the World. Get the full first chapter FREE right HERE*** and find out what to DO as you wrestle with this injustice.