Someone has said: I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacation with better care than they do their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.
That’s the risk of a mission statement, isn’t it? Write it down, commit to it, knowing that to fulfill it will require change. Sometimes the change required means letting go of previous, successful use of our gifts and abilities. Paul’s mission statement included the possibility that fulfilling it could lead to death.
Chuck and I have learned and continue to learn, that seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness requires dying to self. A mission statement shines in value, when life falls apart and we don’t know what to do. We may not like what our mission statement requires of us. How many times I’ve wanted to react with my flesh and I have. The result is that the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness took a back seat to my emotions. When faced with a broken relationship, my mission statement requires me to change any direction fueled by ungodly anger or blame shifting. Pity parties don’t belong in the same sentence as seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
A mission statement can help transform us from life-takers to life-givers. Do you have a mission statement that you go to when well-laid plans don’t come to pass or you watch your dreams shatter? What drives your everyday life? Where do you turn when you don’t know what to do? Pushing your tasks through the grid of your mission statement gives purpose to otherwise mundane days. Intentionally living daily life through your mission statement strengthens spiritual muscles, so that it becomes an auto response to crisis. Pushing a shattered heart through the grid of your mission statement can breathe new life into a body struggling to breathe. If you have a mission statement, review it and determine if you need to update it with a renewed desire to be a life-giver rather than a life-taker. If you don’t have a mission statement, continue to prayerfully consider how your identity as a child of God shapes your purpose and how you will fulfill that purpose. Write out your thoughts in your journal.
STORE UP MORE TREASURES
At some point in our lives, we or someone we know will go through great suffering. I encourage you to go the MARKINC website and listen to the interview "Helping Your Teens With Same Sex Attraction" so that you can store up treasures of encouragement for the next rainy day in your life or someone else's. Here is a summary and teaser of this resource:
No matter how “innocent” the television program or movie, it seems that the entertainment industry is determined to normalize same sex attraction, starting with the youngest of children. How does a parent help a child navigate sexuality when so many forces come against a biblical worldview? In this interview Cooper Pinson of Harvest USA offers practical help so that parents can respond with confidence and wisdom as they help their children understand sexual integrity in a sexually broken world.