Questions missionaries need to ask #1

Do They Really Like Me?

How do I know if I am a good missionary and if I am doing what I should be doing?

If you need to ask that question, then I might wonder if you are a good missionary and if you are really doing what you should be doing. The reason I say this is that doing the right thing is a matter of attitude. We need to think right in order to do right.

Thinking right means really loving the people God has sent you to reach. Loving people is not just saying, “I love you.” Loving is always words with shoe leather. It is not enough to feel love in our hearts, but our hands and feet must find it out. It may be going over to a widow’s house and unloading a load of coal for her. It may be a teenager who needs a ride being picked up and taken to school or work. It may be tasks that are not even as pleasant as those mentioned.

We must be a John 13 Christian. The Lord taught this lesson to His Disciples at the very end of His ministry. The Twelve had all wanted a king, but when they thought that it was just about king time, He said that they had to be a very humble servant. Wow! They were ready for a place alongside the throne and He said they had to get out in the pantry.

The problem here is that many of us go to a foreign country with the idea that we are the super race coming to see that these people find out what a wonderful model we are for them. If they just follow our lead they will be able to bring themselves up to a new high level of living. How do we follow Paul’s admonition in Philippians two where he says:

3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

He answers the question of how this is to be done in the next verse

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

One of the amazing things about this is that the great missionary happens because he or she becomes a great Christian and follows the simple Biblical admonitions. The thing that the people we are trying to reach need to see is Jesus Christ living out His life in us. The whole thing is so simple. They don’t really need to see us at all. They just need to see Him.