"Victory belongs to those who believe in it the longest." Those inspiring words were spoken by the commander of an Air-craft carrier in the movie Pearl Habor. They were true in that context, and they are true in ministry. Ministry, especially cross-cultural ministry, requires persevering faith in the ultimate victory of God. Everyday battles are won and lost. Peoples' lives are destroyed by the enemy and by their own poor decisions. Pastors and missionaries who are desperately looking for results and confirmation that they are winning battles struggle with their own sin, and with the discouragements and disappointments of people who seem to love God one day and then crash and burn, or disappear, or turn on them the next. How can a person stay in ministry for a lifetime?The only real answer to that question is, "by God's grace." Ministry by its very nature is a pouring out of oneself. When lived out as Jesus modeled it is sacrificial, it gets involved in the messy lives of sinful people, it endures abandonment, and yet it always believes in the ultimate victory of God's kingdom. It does NOT believe in the ultimate goodness of the human heart. On the contrary, it must come to peace with the fact that that so called "goodness" is a myth, in order to avoid disillusionment and synicism. Instead, enduring ministry comes to believe in the certainty of God's ultimate victory and rejoices in it.
Over the past two and a half years since we began Mission Adelante, mixed in with some glimpses of exciting ministry fruit, we have experienced a lot of these disappointments and discouragements. Several times during those discouraging seasons, Kristen and I have lain in bed asking ourselves, "what if this ministry doesn't grow?", "what if nobody responds to the gospel?", "what if we were left to do this alone?", "what if immigrants never open up to us on a personal level." Each time we have asked those questions God has only solidified and increased our commitment to this calling and ministry. While we currently enjoy measurable results and occasional victories in Mission Adelante, God reminds me that He is measuring "Enduring Faithfulness."
Will we continue to believe in His ultimate victory even when all we see are disappointing defeats? By His grace we will. Over the years, please make this your number one prayer for our family.
1 comment:
Apreciado amigo, es verdad! Nuestra fe debe ir más allá de lo visible en este tiempo o lo que nos permite nuestra realidad humana. Puedes estar seguro de que el Señor está produciendo y actuando aunque no lo estes viendo, recuerda que depende solo del Señor. Esto es como cuando siembras alguna semilla, el que no veas la planta al día siguiente o no tengamos el fruto, no significa que no esté pasando nada, así como yo, podemos estar seguro de que el Señor está haciendo una gran obra en la vida de muchas personas y solo veremos el resultado de esa maravillosa obra de Dios, en el momento en que El nos siente en sus piernas en el cielo y nos muestre el lienzo completo de su obra y ahí podremos admirar la obra hermosa en la que por su gracia nos permitió participar, un abrazo mi apreciado hermano, continúa adelante siempre porque el Señor está actuando por medio tuyo, de tu familia y del equipo que el Señor ha puesto en tus manos para dirigir. Edwin Granados Rios. Costa Rica.
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