What is important? What is most valuable? What is worth sacrificing my life for? What is the purpose of life? Well I don’t know about you, but I have been asking myself these questions a lot recently. Trying to determine what my life is worth living for, I found an internal battle between my flesh and the Spirit. Galatians 5:17 tells us, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” My flesh turns my head to the comforts of having a nice brick house and a big backyard with a family all nicely dressed for Sunday morning. The American culture and way of life tugs at my desires. The flesh softly whispers about the ease and comforts of life swinging on a porch swing and sipping sweet tea. But the Spirit turns my eyes to people. The hopeless and lost people that are desperate for the few that are obedient to share Jesus with them. The Spirit tells me to go to them. I asked myself, “What is life worth living for?” I have had to look in the mirror and examine myself. I have had to inspect my priorities and what I consider important. I have had to survey what I wanted in life. And yet, even through all the internal battles, my flesh, and sinfulness, God remains faithful. Faithful to put me at peace, and to answer my questions by giving me the desires of truth. He has opened my eyes to what is valuable, important, and worth my life. And that is sharing Him with the world and living on mission. Living out the great commission is worth sacrificing every comfort I think I’ll have living life on a porch swing for the indescribable joy it is to see one person come to Christ. Being in the will of God brings joy, peace, comfort, and hope that can not even compare to the so-called joy, peace, and comfort the flesh promises. Shockingly, even though I’m only a sophomore in high school, I already know what my purpose in life is. But spoiler alert….. It’s your purpose too. We are all called to be missionaries. A friend once told me, “You should always consider being a missionary unless God calls you to something else.” Whether that’s in the deep jungles of Africa, the busy city of Lisbon, the tribes in Ecuador, or the people across the road, you are called to be a light. Right here, right now I’m going to ask you to do something that might put you outside your comfort zone. I want you to come to God with a willing heart and pray where He wants you to be a missionary. Yes you, a missionary. He might answer that and tell you to be a missionary to that neighbor, or He might call you to another country. The point in praying this is saying, “Here I am God, use me.” Put your yes on the table to whatever He asks of you. I pray that Jesus will open your eyes, put a burden in your heart, and give you the faith to follow the great commission to the ends of the earth. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with living in a nice house and being blessed by God with the privileges of America. But I do feel like most of us get caught up in the things of the world. Preaching to myself here. Our eyes are so distracted by this world we don’t even stop and realize it won’t last, but the souls of people will. It is so incredibly easy to get consumed by what others think, the things we think we need or should do. We completely forget our purpose in life as Christians. Our purpose is to live on mission. But this is easier said than done. This world, your flesh, and Satan do not want you to obey Christ’s call. So be ready. Pick up your sword. Prepare yourselves. Obedience to a call like this means your going to have to die to self. This means you are going to have to give Jesus everything and say, “No matter what I want to serve You, God.” The only way is if you pray that God would kill your flesh and its desires. All that said, Jesus is faithful to prepare you for the good work He has for you. He is the one who does everything; all we have to do is surrender.
Jackson 5: Living on Mission 