Black Friday

It is barely past 7:00 AM and I just returned from dropping off my son Evan at the football locker room. (They are headed to Lucas Oil Stadium for practice in the dome for tomorrow's state 5A championship game.) On the way to the school I noticed the Target parking lot. Still dark, before 7:00 AM and there were cars parked out to the street.  Mind you this is a time of economic crisis, a near depression, the dow is down, foreign markets are down, everything is down. Well, all the stuff that is supposed to be up is down, and the stuff that needs to be down is up; such as unemployment. A credit crisis is threatening the housing market. People are losing their homes.  The big three of the auto industry are about to fold. And yet in the predawn hours of this Black Friday we Americans are rushing to the stores, fighting the crowds, filling our carts, and loading up our credit cards. Maybe I am just hung over from to much turkey and pumpkin pie, but does this not seem ridiculous to anyone else?  Do we not get it? Has our insatiable desire for material possessions stolen our brains? The advertising agencies have convinced us that we need, no, absolutely must have more stuff. Our clothes, though in perfectly wearable condition, are hopelessly out of style... we simply must have a new wardrobe. Our electronic gadgetry is antiquated, at almost a year and a half old it is amazing it works at all, we must have the latest and greatest. And don't forget our toys, we deserve, cannot live without, our toys. When one considers the standard of living in most of the rest of the world, and then sees the gluttonous materialism of America, it is no wonder many in the world hate us. It is also no wonder that our economy is spiraling out of control. We must realize that stuff, no matter how new and improved, can never bring true and sustained satisfaction. We must return to the truth that satisfaction can only be found in a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. The Scriptures say "godliness with contentment is great gain." God help us not to bankrupt ourselves searching for the satisfaction we crave in the materialistic stuff they advertise. 

Living on mission... in ones home.

Yesterday I wrote about your life being your mission, and wherever you are being your mission field. I want to follow that up by exploring it a bit deeper.  Focusing in on being a reflection of Jesus at home.  We often try hard to "let our little light shine" while out in the public eye. Admittedly we do not even always try out there. But, we far to often view home as a place to "let it all hang out" to just relax and be ourselves. Now our homes should be a safe place, a place where we can relax. Our families should know us better, more intimately than our co-workers, or a stranger in the market. But digging in to the call of Jesus to live our lives on mission, being His body, how much more should we try to let Him shine through us at home.  Relaxing should not mean that we relax our convictions, and become careless in our holiness. Just because we are with our family should not mean that we use less care in how we speak to and interact with them. Paul urges us men to treat our wives with great respect and honor using the example of how Christ loved the church as our standard. I wonder if our wives see Jesus accurately when they are with us?  Knowing also that our children learn more by watching how we live then by simply listening to what we say, I wonder if our children are getting to know Jesus by spending time with us?

Your life is your mission, wherever you are is your mission field.

In reading the Great Commission we so often have the idea of a specific place, or a specific mission. We view the mission field as a place, a location: Africa, South America, China, etc. We view mission as a specific task to be completed: door to door, evangelism breakthrough, street witnessing, revival services, homeless outreach, church in the park, etc.  I do not deny that Africa, South America, China... or the USA for that matter are indeed mission fields. Nor do I deny the need, or importance of specific outreach, evangelism, or missions events or programs.  But as I read the New Testament I get the sense that we are missing the larger point of the Great Commission when we allow it to become only about specific places and specific tasks or events.  It seems to me that the overarching call of Jesus was to view our entire life as our mission, and wherever we are as our mission field. Whether we are doing a church outreach or shopping, going on a missions trip or showing up at work, we should be ever attentive to the opportunities around us. Opportunities to reflect Jesus, to "be" His body - embodying His presence wherever we are.  Our mission is not just a trip we take, an event we work, but is literally our life as we live it. Our life is our mission, wherever we are is our missions field.