This is a guest post by Caleb Dueck
I’ve been a part of Ethnos360 my whole life. I was born while my parents were in training. When I was two years old, we packed our things and went to serve in Guinea. Spending the first part of my life overseas, I certainly viewed overseas missions as something necessary, but I didn’t tie it in with my worldview. It was just part of my life not to be in America like other kids, and I knew my parents were doing the right thing. But the need didn’t pierce my heart. The thought of a lost world really didn’t affect my heart that much.
When I came to Ethnos360 Bible Institute, what really impacted my heart was learning Scripture and, specifically, seeing God’s heart for the world. A true understanding of God’s master plan for humanity reveals a deeper meaning and conviction in my personal day to day life.
Two things…
Being able to spend two years watching the Biblical account unfold, I noticed two things:
- God wants a relationship with His people, and
- He uses people with whom He has a relationship to tell others about Him.
Sometime while studying the New Testament, a question (and answer) began to take root in my mind that changed how I see life. That question was …
“Why are we still here?”
Think about that for a second.
If you are a believer in Christ, you understand that your eternal future is in Heaven with God.
So, why aren’t you there right now?
The Opportunity
God has provided you the opportunity through Christ for restored fellowship. You’ve accepted that opportunity, changing the trajectory of your eternal future, and now you’re waiting on complete restoration.
Why is God waiting to bring you to Heaven? Why do you still have to deal with sin nature and the difficulties of this world instead of being with God without all those things?
They’re simple questions, but we sometimes fail to even think about them because we accept the environment we’re in, even if that’s the church (or, in my case, the mission field).
The answer is just as simple.
The Answer
The main reason we’re still here is because God wants us to reach others with the news of Christ.
It may not be the only reason, but it’s a big one.
When I realized that, it reinvigorated my sense of purpose.
Sure, I was saved as a kid, and sure, I knew that I should share Christ with others.
However, having an understanding of God’s story and how He’s chosen to reach His people fundamentally changed how I thought about missions.
Not everyone is called specifically to overseas missions, but everyone is called to share Christ with the world.
Learning God’s story in-depth changed how I viewed God’s people.
God’s plan is to involve us in reaching the world. Studying the Bible for two years made that as plain as day, even if it had been right in front of me my whole life. It redefines my purpose and forces me to focus on Jesus’ final words as a call to action.
After all, Jesus didn’t ask us to go.
He commanded.