There are days where I set out to accomplish many things, but when I arrive at the end of the day I feel like I’ve fallen short of my goal. I got sidetracked throughout the day and allowed my focus to be split by different parties or issues competing for my attention. The end result is I spent my day being very busy, but not truly accomplishing anything. Maybe this resonates with you. We live in a culture where a million different stimuli can be available to us, causing us to be perpetually wired in; feeling the pressure to produce or connect constantly, all the while being exposed to a constant barrage distractions.
We can operate this way with the best of intentions, even convincing ourselves that we are being more productive. But do we truly make progress operating in this manner? Are we doing things that matter? Or are we focused on so many different things, pulled in so many different directions, that all we are left with is exhaustion and a feeling of disconnect from God, His creation, and others?
I am truly convinced that this is where being on mission matters. When I speak of mission, I am referring to God’s mission to reveal Himself to a broken creation; restoring it and those who reside in it to Himself, and how He invites those who follow Him into this work. If we claim to follow Jesus as king of a kingdom that is breaking forth into this world, and we understand our roles as ambassadors of this kingdom, then we should align our thoughts, choices, and actions to this mission. This means as we make our way through the day we need to assess if what we are seeking to accomplish has kingdom value and prioritize accordingly. This is a starting point that eliminates unnecessary busyness in our lives and helps us prioritize the things that God values. Jesus said it simply, “But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Jesus is speaking directly to the anxiety that claims us when we become preoccupied with our needs, but this anxiety is often compounded then by our own attempts to meet those needs (perceived or real) which contributes to the busyness of our day and distraction from the mission.
This lack of focus on the mission of God and our part in it can plague everyone, church leaders included. This is a major reason I feel called to our work with the Bible and Ministry Training Department at BCM International. Part of our goal to better equip pastors and church leaders across the globe, is to help them stay focused on the mission of God and communicate it clearly to the communities of Jesus followers they lead. I am excited to share that (as of the publishing of this post) members of our team are running our first series of tests trainings in South Africa to help refine the curriculum! They will be running two separate 2-day training sessions this week. This is a huge step and we are excited to see what fruit God will bring from these testing sessions. We ask that you would be praying for humility and discernment for our team as we receive feedback. We also ask that you would pray for the participants of these trainings; that they would be blessed by the training and that God would give them boldness to share their feedback. I cannot wait to share more of how we are blessed to be a part of God’s mission in this way!
Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Mt 6:33.
