My Mission

"Humans need a mission that is BIGGER than us."

The quote above was said by my pastor two weeks ago after he had shown us this beautiful video he'd watched from his Facebook feed. The video portrayed a young Asian boy stealing from a pharmacy to have medicine for his sick mother. As the pharmacist threw the boy out and yelled at him, the man who owned a small restaurant across the street went over to them and paid the pharmacist the amount for the medicine the boy had stolen. He also asked his daughter to put some soup in a Styrofoam cup ,and he gave it to the boy, who ran away without saying even a thank you. 

Skip 30 years later...

The same man and his daughter are still working in their family owned restaurant, and the man is still giving food to the people who are in need. Suddenly, he has a heart attack and is placed in the hospital. His daughter is given the bills, and she is afraid she'll have to sell the restaurant her family has owned for years.

When she goes to visit her father, she receives a letter, and the letter explains that all of the hospital bills have been taken care of because of some medicine and a cup of soup given thirty years ago. The doctor was that little boy, thirty years ago.

Really heart-warming, right?

Pastor Ritchie explained that after watching that, we all feel like we need to get out there and do something. We all want a mission for our life. But that mission needs to be bigger than us.

When I heard the quote above, I began to think about my own life. Honestly, I've been feeling really comfortable with where I am. Sure, there are still difficulties in life, but there hasn't been anything that has shattered my world. And so, I'm comfy. I get up every day, go to my classes and work shifts, do my homework, have some "me time", go to Zumba or some other event that's scheduled, take a shower and go to bed. 

It's been a busy, but great few first weeks of my junior year in college, but despite my comfort, I feel so empty. And I've realized that it's because my mission is limited to myself. I do all I do in a day to survive so I can get to the next day, the next weekend, the next week. Not once have I stopped and thought, "Today, everything I'm going to do is going to be for God, and not for myself and my own comfort."

After talking with Bria, I am convinced that I need to challenge myself daily to do all I do that day to glorify God. Whether it's sitting in class and giving my full attention, listening instead of speaking when a friend needs to talk, or reading my shelves in the library, my main mission is to do all that I can to glorify God with what He's blessed me with. And that's is SO MUCH.

Also two weeks ago, our chaplain spoke a message that I definitely needed to hear.

Notice that there is something crucial missing in my list of things that I do during my day: spending time with the Lord. I know it's an important part of my life, but I always have that excuse: "I'm so busy."

Chaplain Lowe spoke today on us being sheep and Jesus being the shepherd, which most Christians have read in the Bible or heard in a sermon before. But what he said was so true, and it opened my eyes to a different perspective. We were reminded that, yes, we are to follow Jesus, our Shepherd, our Savior when He calls. But when He calls, do we listen? Do we know what the voice of our Savior sounds like?

Now, obviously, we cannot physically hear His voice, but even when we are making decisions and going about our day, can we hear Him? Chaplain Lowe said that the only way we can know His voice is if we know Him. And the only way you get to know someone is to spend time with them.

His message convicted me so much. One quote that struck me was this: "We cannot follow Him, if we do not know Him."

And I sat there in my desk (because we were in chapel overflow then in a classroom), asking myself, "Do I really know God? I haven't been spending time with Him every day, in fact, it's been a while. And even when I do spend time with Him, I feel like I haven't been fully paying attention. How am I supposed to know what His voice sounds like and know where He is leading me?"

Such deep questions I need to continue to ask myself on a daily basis. Lately, when I've been reading my Bible, I feel like I'm not getting anything out of it. Not that every time we read our Bible we should have some strong revelation or conviction, but I felt like I couldn't hear the Holy Spirit speaking to me. And it isn't God's fault, it's mine. My head has been so clouded with things I need to do, things I want to do, thoughts surrounding people and events and other things. I have truly not been focused on the Word at all. And that scares me so much.

I want to get back to where my focus was on what I needed to be focusing on. I feel like I've strayed so far from the voice of God that it isn't even a whisper to me anymore. And so, on top of dedicating my days to living them for the Lord and not for myself, I am wanting to just sit in silence with no distractions (phone, school work, etc.), and I just want to read my Bible and focus on God. Because He is worth the time I have. I should be excited to get to know my Heavenly Father more. And yet I see reading my Bible as some type of chore or as a thing I do very first thing in the morning at breakfast because it's what I'm supposed to be doing.

It shouldn't be a forced thing.

I want to get to know God so that I can know His voice, so when He calls me to do something I will do it and I will do it for His glory and not for my own personal gain here on earth. 

My mission is going to be bigger than me. And I challenge you to have a mission that is bigger than you!