Hey guys, I wrote this for the ministry we were working with and have decided to share it with y’all too!
Abandonment can come in every single shape and size, as well as it looks different for every single person. Especially when it comes to a life of missions, or living life on mission- I should say.
Physically, as a missionary, you are typically giving up personal comforts like hot water, comfort foods, a full wardrobe, consistent income, your favorite slippers, the local coffee stand in your hometown, your best work friends, among many other material things that we find comfort in at home. Of course, living a life dedicated to living out the Great Commission that the Lord calls us to do, whether it’s for a week, a month, 3-9 months, to several years, is so worth it beyond words. Also, this is geared more towards international missions, but domestic missions are a very important part of the body and also require many sacrifices as well. In Matthew 19, Jesus tells the rich man to give up his earthly possessions, give money to the needy, and to come and follow Him, as well as earlier in the chapter He says that it would be easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. So from these verses, we can take away that God isn’t really too keen on the riches and materials of this world. We may not be
too surprised that living a missional life requires sacrifice and simple living. Although, here’s some great news! The Lord PROVIDES!! In Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”!
Yeah, it can be hard to give things up, letting go of comfortability, it’s something I am learning myself. I have been on a mission trip for 6 months now, and I keep having to relearn this lesson. When I was packing before I left, my organization encouraged us to only bring about 5 shirts… I brought 8. Then I had a phase where I was able to abandon the things I didn’t really need, and I made my way down to 5 shirts. But THEN over a course of 2 months, we went shopping a few times, some people gave me things… ya know then I ended up with about 15 shirts. Not my proudest moment. I then went into another phase and was able to part ways with a lot of clothes that I accepted that I didn’t really need. I tell you this story only because I wanted to show that abandonment isn’t a quick, overnight decision. It’s a process that requires inviting the Lord into.
SO that’s tapping into learning how to give up physical comfortabilities, now let’s talk about letting go of expectations. Fun, right?
As missionaries, we have a habit of having expectations of what our time spent overseas will look like. However, I am here to encourage you to hand those up to the Lord. He will work in so many unexpected ways. We often find ourselves with the mindset of going out to “save the world”, but the truth is, God has been working in these communities long before we were here, and He will continue to be the One here when we are gone. We are working alongside the Lord while He works to transform the lives of people, He is just gracious enough to allow us to work with Him. No, that doesn’t mean that what we are doing is pointless, not at all, it just means we have to be careful not to allow pride to step in and tell us that we are the ones changing hearts of people here. The communities function well without us here, our job is just to bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ, while praying to the Father that His will be done, using us in whatever way He desires. That could include church planting, evangelizing, organizing different programs, while it could also just mean loving the families and people here, showing up at a festival you were invited to, or just drinking coffee with a woman you meet and letting her vent to you.
I have met many people who have grown frustrated with the Lord because He wasn’t doing the things they expected Him to do. We have to be careful not to put Him in a box, He can do incredible things, in Ephesians, Paul talks about how God can do more than anything we could even think to ask Him to do. He is a great God!! When going into the mission field, just be expectant of the Lord’s goodness, but don’t hold tightly to your own standards of the Lord, because He will almost always exceed them.
