“Just”
Have you noticed how often Christians use the word “just”.
“God, I just want to ask…”
“I just want to tell you …”
“I’m just tired of…”
“I’m just tired”
“I just did…because…”
“I’m OK, really, I’m just…”
Missionaries use the word just more than any group of people I personally have ever met. Why? I have a few ideas.
We are the great minimizers. The current world of evangelical missions full of missionaries who have a deep love for the word, “just”. Why? This is our strategy for coping with what makes up our life. Let’s face it, our lives are filled with circumstances and events that drain us. Yet, we must press on, so we minimize.
We experience wonderful moments like when we are witness to a life that is transformed from death to life. This is glorious! It takes emotional, physical and spiritual energy to fully engage in the reality of what is really taking place. So, we minimize. “So and so got saved today, it was just such a blessing!” Hello!!? The angels are rejoicing. I can only imagine the thunderous noise of praise to the miracle God had such accomplished in raising a spirit from death to life. New birth of salvation is a glorious miracle that happens before our very eyes. If this isn’t the time for an “End-Zone Celebration”, I don’t know what is! Yet we must press on to the next task, so we minimize.
We experience hard moments like when a patient comes to the hospital on death’s doorstep because they delayed coming for treatment because they didn’t have enough money. Now it’s too late. They’re too far gone. We do our best to speak the gospel to them and leave the results to God for their soul. But, for their body, their time on earth is near its end. Death is the final enemy. Yes, death is an enemy. It’s real. It had it’s birth in sin, and it feeds on sin, and it will not be quenched of its hunger until Jesus makes all things new. The reality of death and it’s finality is a reality, but it’s hard. So, we minimize. We go through the day, then head home and spend a normal evening with the family. “How was your day honey?” As an attempt to put the eternal weight of the day behind us we sigh and simply say, “It was just a really hard day…” What else can we do?
Relationships on the mission field are filled with exhausting exchanges. The stakes are high out here for everyone. We’ve all worked really hard to get here and we’re all working really hard to succeed in this thing called missionary life. And the fact is that most missionaries make it to the field because they have strong convictions combined with strong personalities. Then we enter life with a people group that have a culture that is different from ourselves. Culture is a strong force that is hard to understand and extremely difficult to navigate and even more difficult to change. These are the relationships that fill our days, and it wears on the individual emotionally, physically and spiritually. Yet, we must press on. So, what do we do? We minimize. “I just need to be patient and pray and give it time.”
No person lives life outside the pressure of expectation. As missionaries we struggle to meet the expectations of so many people. In our fish bowl lifestyle we are being watched by the people in the US…family, friends, churches, pastors, our sending organization, non-believers, nominal believers, believers in different denominations. We are being watched by the people on the field where we serve…churches, new believers, co-workers, employees, chiefs of our towns, shop workers in the market place. There are constantly hundreds of people watching us and we don’t want to let them down. We want to put on a good performance because we know that we are a reflection of our King, and we don’t want to tarnish His name. But our deepest heart’s desire is not to perform at all, but to simply be. We want to be in His presence, see and be seen by our Abba. A life can be lived with an audience of One. But the pressure to live for the greater audience is astounding and exhausting. So we minimize. “I just don’t have that much time for meditating on God’s word and in His presence. I just have these other things I have to do.” And we press on.
Yes we are the great minimizers. The shame of it all is that it keeps us from fully experiencing God. We are minimizing the joy to which we are entitled as part of our inheritance as children of God. We are minimizing the sorrow of sin and the weight of it’s pain for which Jesus died. We are minimizing the resurrection power that overcomes sin and death and offers victory and righteousness to us in every moment! So for every time we minimize the truth of the hard and the ugly of life, we minimize the truth of the glorious victory of Jesus. How can we live in victory if we have yet to acknowledge the reality of the battle?
No, we need not be experts in the melodrama. But we need to live in truth and let the Spirit of God expand our capacity to fully experience God and His work.
What are the consequences of minimizing?
First, when the wonderful is minimized, the glory is minimized. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are called and redeemed for the the praise of His glory! When we do not fully see and engage in the wonderful works of God, we minimize our expressions of praise to His glory. This is to our shame. It is also a shame because I believe nothing does the Christian’s heart more good than to turn towards our God in praise.
Second, when we minimize the hard, the glory is minimized. Just as a star shines brightest with the night sky is the darkest, the miracle of new birth and victorious Christian living shine the brightest in the face of a world that is filled with sin and death. Dare to look squarely at your own sin and deal with it ruthlessly, applying the truths of the gospel unto salvation. Let the resurrection power of Jesus radiate from your life as you live in full view of the reality of depravity and the eternal gift of salvation that raised us from the dead and brought us to abundant and eternal life, to the praise of His glory!
When we cease to minimize we cease to look at at life with a gaze that is unclear. We begin to see circumstances, events and relationships with clarity. Truth becomes our guide. We see life as it truly is and then through the wisdom of the Spirit of God and His Word we can navigate our steps far more effectively because we are engaged in reality rather than an illusion.
So stop minimizing and embrace truth. It takes courage. Joshue 1:9 “Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
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