07 Jan A Missional Life

What does it mean to live a life that is on mission? For some people, this means going on a mission trip to Allendale over the summer or making the trip across the pond to Kenya.

For others, it means helping out with the Foster and Adopt ministry or contributing to the backpack drive that is put on before school starts. For me, I look to the Great Commission to see what it means to live my life engaged in the world around me. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Two things are very clear to me when I read Matthew 28:18-20. The first is that all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Jesus, yet he still wants broken humans like me to make disciples of all nations. The second is that Jesus promises to be with me on my mission of bringing glory to his name.

I don’t think of myself as a missionary, but the truth is I am just as much a missionary as someone who moves across the world to live on mission in a foreign country. We both share the same mission, only our mission fields looks different. For my life, I have to focus on the command as if it were, “Go therefore and make disciples at Clemson University” or “Go therefore and make disciples at Wren High School” or “Go therefore and make disciples in the apartment complex you live in.”

“All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Jesus, yet he still wants broken humans like me to make disciples of all nations.”

Maybe your mission field is the office you work in, the school you teach at, or even the neighborhood you live in. One of the most important things I have to remember when trying to live my life on mission is that Jesus calls me to be on mission exactly where my feet are planted. Living on mission isn’t only a week in Allendale or a trip to Kenya—it’s living a life glorifying of our Heavenly Father every single day no matter where we go.

Of course, the thought of living on mission every single day is intimidating. Boldly testifying about Jesus both verbally and by the way you live isn’t easy, but this is where my second takeaway from the Great Commission comes into play. When we go to our mission fields that feel hopeless and engulfed in sin, we can’t forget we have the light of the world with us. John 1:4-5 talks about how the darkness hasn’t overcome the light; the truth is that darkness and sin were defeated when Jesus conquered the grave. The same Jesus that defeated death is the same Jesus that is with us when we go to our mission fields to make disciples. Jesus loves the people he calls us to disciple more than we ever will and ever could, so why don’t we turn to him more when we are living on mission? We have the greatest treasure in Jesus that this world will ever know, and he gives us the blessing of being a part of the work he is doing in the lives of people we pursue.

“We have the greatest treasure in Jesus that this world will ever know, and he gives us the blessing of being a part of the work he is doing in the lives of people we pursue.”

So what does it mean to live a life on mission? I think it means going into the darkness of the world around us with Jesus by our side, knowing that if he can change this wretched man’s life, he can save anybody we encounter. What a treasure we have found in a new life in Jesus and what a privilege it is to get to share that with our mission fields.

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:4-5 (ESV)

-Beau Sluder, Powdersville Campus