Preparing for Mission
“in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1Pet 3:15)
Mission has been well defined as “something that one feels he must do because it is his duty” and in our context that something is preaching the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. I have in the past shared about the gospel of the Kingdom, which must accompany and outlive the former, but for now let us concentrate on the mission that brings the lost back into the fold of the Great Shepherd – preaching the gospel of salvation. Are you ready to preach?
The key verse I chose for this sharing is Apostle Peter’s call for every believer to always be prepared to boldly confess their faith in Jesus Christ who is the source and reason for the hope we have. This preparation begins ‘in your hearts’: You make a decision to follow Christ first, and day by day you grow in honoring Him as holy, and in turn He builds in your strength and courage to bring out what is in your heart through your lips as well as actions.
In the last Mid-Week service we shared about Mordecai in Esther 3:4; his identity as a Jew meant a lot – he would not bow down (worship) Haman, he would not a king’s command that goes against the greater King’s command, he would not succumb to threats of being reported to high officials, he did not fear the wrath of earthly kings as much as he feared his God. His identity was in his worship and in Jehovah God. He therefore stood firm and unique among the gentiles even when it was tough. Through rough and uncertain times, the end of the story is that he and the whole nation of God, the Jews, were never touched by the looming extermination threats hatched in those days by Haman.
Your identity does more mission than your words. You influence many people – whether at home or at work, your friends or your fellowship, those you know and those you don’t know. When your give yourself to God and His mission, your identity agrees and influences for the better. In response, I invite you to join in my version of this hymn today:
Take my heart it is thine own; Take my silver and my gold;
It shall be thy royal throne. Not a mite would I withhold,
Take my lips and let them be Take my life and let it be-
Filled with messages from thee. Consecrated Lord to thee:
God bless you as you give yourself to His work!