I just read a really interesting article on The Traveling Team website. The basics of the article stated that there is no difference in the call of God to do missionary work or to stay and live a life of comfort.
As Christians in America we feel that we need to have a special call on our lives to server as a missionary somewhere or to go witness to people, yet we decide on our own without hearing a special call from God that we are supposed to work to make more money and just friend people so maybe they will one day be interested enough to ask us about Christ.
But is this right? When we became Christians, we dedicated our life to follow Christ. So where in that dedication to follow Christ do we see that we have the right to live for ourselves unless God calls us elsewhere? Shouldn”t we live for God unless God calls us specifically to live for ourselves?
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” – Luke 9:23
I think we have things a little backwards in our walk with God. We need to decide if we really want to follow God, and if so then do it, to commit ourselves to Him. To deny ourselves and to follow God, even if it means being poor and going to our death in that service.
Does the shepherd have to be told that he has to protect and watch the sheep? Does the satellite engineer actually have to be told to work on the satellite after he is hired? No, when hired for a job it is assumed that you do that job unless told otherwise. You do not get hired and then sit around unless you are specifically told to do the work. Why do we know this is unacceptable in the work place but we try to fool God with this thinking?
I will finish with a quote from the original article.
This whole business of asking for special calls to missionary work does violence to the Bible. There is the command, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We say, “That means other people.” There is the promise, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” We say, “That means me.” We must have a special divine indication that we fall under the command; we do not ask any special divine indication that we fall under the blessing. By what right do we draw this line of distinction between the obligations of Christianity and its privileges? By what right to we accept the privileges as applying to every Christian and relegate its obligations to the conscience of the few?