A Missionary Story

I recently had lunch with someone who is a full time missionary. He has been on numerous trips around the world, sacrificing His time, finances, and potentially His life for the spread of Jesus among all people! His life truly demonstrates what it looks like to live on necessity, being able to fit all that He has in a suitcase.

Despite all the awesome stories He shared with me, there is one that I cannot stop thinking about.

He began to share with me stories of past missionaries who would leave their homes, packing only their necessities, and never to return because there was a greater need elsewhere.

Although that is more than breathtaking, it is what He said next that really hit me. He said, “What did they know back then, that we don’t know now?”

Since that day, I have not been able to stop thinking about that. “What did they know back then, that I don’t know now”? What did they know that they saw it completely necessary to go on mission for Jesus, potentially to never return? What did they know that I don’t?

Today while washing the dishes at work the answer to that question dawned on me.

What they knew that I don’t know was ‘nothing’. If anything I know more. We live in what I would argue is the most resourced and intelligent church ever! We know all the doctrines, memorize scripture, have more churches, more seminary graduates, and resources than ever! There is nothing they knew that we don’t know, and nothing they had that we don’t have! We know and have more!

But there is one thing that I believe separates us from these, what some would say “radical”, missionaries… they believed it.

We can know all the facts and have all the resources, but it means nothing if we don’t believe it. We can know about “anything”, but we don’t have to believe everything we know. We know about Santa Claus, but don’t believe He is real (well most of us). Believing is putting into action what you know.

Lets live out what we believe by putting into action the gospel we know; the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am not saying pack up and move to an unknown area, but I do believe we need to start somewhere. We need to be actively sharing the gospel starting in our homes, and continuing to the nations! If we don’t people are going to die, never knowing about Jesus. At the end of life, nothing is going to matter besides whether or not we knew Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Love in Christ,

David Marino