Did I Misunderstand?

 

 

Words, definitions, and connotations can be tricky things.  Clear communication is difficult!  A certain word may have a particular meaning to me and a different meaning to you.  Many times this is due to our experience of the word.  For example, what if I told someone, “I’m a Christian.”  One person may view this positively, associating it with virtues such as kindness and forgiveness.  Another may be completely put off, relating Christianity with being judgmental and close-minded.  Same word, totally different message.

Miscommunication can happen in our relationship with God, too.  Surprised?  Or have you floundered in misperception before? One particular experience shook my world.  As I entered college it was my career goal to become a tentmaker missionary.  The term doesn’t mean that one actually makes tents, but refers to a person who supports themselves financially through their career while serving on the mission field.  It’s a nod to Paul, who worked as a tentmaker while on his missionary journeys (Acts 18:1-4).

Through the years I navigated the interesting waters of living out my faith at work in my own culture.  After many years, my career was going well, but the possibility of going overseas seemed bleak.  I began to question myself.  Where did I go wrong?  Had I left God’s path?  Life was not progressing in the direction I thought God had wanted for me.  It was a very disorienting season of life.

About that time, I started reading William Peel and Walt Larimore’s book Going Public with Your Faith: Becoming a Spiritual Influence at Work.  It was then I realized I had bought into a non-Biblical belief of work.  I had divided work into the secular and the sacred.  That was not God’s design.  Work is sacred.  Don’t buy into the lie that only “full-time ministry” is sacred.  Each one of us has a ministry to others through and because of our work.

Consider this quote:
“[Early church] growth didn’t occur as a result of the proliferation of full-time missionaries; it happened because ordinary followers of Jesus took their faith to the workplace and lived it out in their ordinary everyday encounters.” (page 13)

Faith displayed in the ordinary is powerful.

As I read through the book, God revealed to me that I hadn’t taken a wrong turn.  I was right where He wanted me.  In fact, I could almost visualize Him chuckling and shaking His head while lovingly saying, “You’ve always been a tentmaker missionary.”  I had felt like I “missed the boat” of God’s will, but He revealed I had been on the boat the entire time.

Ministry doesn’t take place only at church or on a missions trip to a distant area.  Ministry happens in the here and now, right where you are.  God has you planted where you are for a reason.  He wants to shine His light in that place.  He chose you as the perfect fit to accomplish this.  Let God shine through you in your ordinary everyday encounters.

Photo by Evan Dennis

Miscommunication will happen on this side of life, even with God.  The key is to keep asking and searching.  God desires us to see the truth clearly.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8

Scriptures for this week:
Colossians 3:12-24
Luke 7:18-23  Was that an answer? Why do you think Jesus responded in that manner?
Luke 3:7-18  How would you describe John’s definition of “Messiah?”
Jesus’ response would have cued John’s mind back to these scriptures in Isaiah.  What was Jesus communicating to John concerning the Messiah?
Isaiah 35:1-10
Isaiah 61:1-11