What is our motivation?
If you have heard a missionary presentation before it is likely that you know about the 2,500 people groups how do not have any gospel witness. You might have read letters written by village leaders asking to be sent a missionary, so you probably know that there usually aren’t enough missionaries to send. We are aware of the hopeless realities millions of people wake up to every morning. We know about starvation, severe poverty, and entire people groups who live in constant fear.
Seriously, what is our motivation?
These truths are heart wrenching, and what’s worse, they have been true for millennia. The reason why physical and spiritual desperation of this world tear at our heartstrings is because of who we were inherently created to be. Mankind was not created to live hopelessly awaiting death, yet we open our eyes to the world and see the utter pain that grips it. We were created in the image of our creator, so naturally we reflect his compassion for the world. People were created to live in eternal delight of God, so when we see the opposite happening on a mass scale, it should bring tears to our eyes.
But, what motivates us?
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” -Rev. 4:11
If God created us with this moral compass, and then walked away caring nothing for His creation, all our motivations and morality would be without meaning. Yet our God has created us like himself and invites us to be a part of what he is already doing to redeem this world. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ not only proves God’s love to the world, but also offers it hope. He is the initiator of compassion, the giver of hope, and the author of life.
He is worthy.
He is the motivation.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” -Matthew 9:37,38