Don’t Waste Your Life
The title of this post is also the title of one of my favorite books by one John Piper. I re-read this book on my trip to Uganda, and was once again impacted and convicted about how I often view my life incorrectly, and because of that how ineffective I am most of the time. One of the really cool things about the Uganda trip was that we got to meet a lot of people who aren’t “wasting their lives”, but are sold out for God’s glory in a real and tangible way every day.
A missionary we met named Dick fell into this category, and some of what he said related really well to the book. We only got to spend a few hours with Dick, but the wisdom he passed on to us in that short time was invaluable. Just a side note on Dick before I get to the main point of this post – he was Jacques Masiko’s youth leader years ago. It must be crazy to look back over your life and see someone you discipled go on to reach 40,000 young people. I hope some day I can look back at my group of Jr highers and see men that have influenced their world for Christ in such an amazing way. Anyway, on to the point…
On our drive up to Gulu, we asked Dick a lot of questions about life as a missionary and about living in Uganda. We asked him what the advantages were to living life on the mission field versus back here in the States. Here’s my best attempt at paraphrasing what he said: by living life on the mission field you are saved from three things.
1. You are saved from yourself. When you’re living life as a missionary it is nearly impossible to be focused on yourself. When you are living in a culture full of need, and filling your time ministering to people in need, you don’t spend your time thinking about what YOU want and how to get it. You don’t think about your comfort and you don’t think about how people have wronged you. You don’t think about how you deserve this or that.
2 You are saved from your culture. There are mountains of books written on this, but in short, I don’t think anyone would disagree that we as Americans are extremely materialistic. You can try really hard to resist this, but in a culture as ingrained as ours it is nearly impossible to escape. Dick will be retiring soon after over 30 years of service in Uganda, and he told us that no matter how hard he and his wife try, after six months back in the American culture they’ll be assimilated again. He said it’s happened to them every time they’ve come back for furlough, and as hard as they fight, the culture eventually wins. I don’t think he’s really talking about the big time materialism of the world here, as in the “I need the biggest house on the block and I need a Hummer in my garage” type mentality. Instead it’s the “I like to be comfortable, and I like to have nice things” type of subtle materialism that is so hard to confront even for those in the church.
3. You are saved from a life of insignificance. Life lived on the mission field is a life of significance, or as Piper would say, a life not wasted. When on a day-by-day basis you are bringing glory to God by meeting peoples’ needs, both spiritually and physically, you will have a life that matters. You will one day be able to look back and see a life of impact, lived by the power of the Spirit, and have full confidence that you will hear the phrase “well done” when you see the face of your Father. Just one simple illustration of this is Dick’s ministry to Jacques that I mentioned above. This is not to say that one cannot have a life of significance living here in the States, but for the most part it’s much more acceptable to be insignificant. Just think of the “American Dream” – to work your way up in your career, then retire early to enjoy relaxing vacations and nice hobbies.
So what do you all think? Is life lived in another country in service to the Lord superior to a life here in the U.S.?
For those following the situation in Northern Uganda, big news continues to unfold. According to a senior officer, Kony has accepted an amnesty offer by the government of Uganda, and is looking forward to the peace talks starting this Wednesday. There is still the matter of the International Criminal Court indictment to be resolved, but I think we all need to pray for peace and for the salvation of Kony. This next week is now said to be the greatest chance for peace for the Acholi people since the war began 20 years ago.
Dick’s impact will live on for generations. The part that moved me was that he felt a special responsibility because he was financially supported by others. It is an awesome gift and a huge responsbility. But as Americans I think our walk can still be “significant” when we realize that God has provided all we have for the purpose of giving Him glory and not providing us comfort. Thanks for the post. I think it is an accurate paraphrase, from what I remember.
AP – thanks for remembering to post. And thanks for the post itself. Much food for thought. I met this couple yesterday – they are in their seventies, and instead of retiring to the beach moved here to Harrisburg so they could volunteer with ABWE. This week, they are working long hours in the kitchen making all the food for dozens of us missionary candidates – and a fine job they are doing. There are so many ways of not wasting your life if you will just look around!
E to the G – I totally agree, our walk can be, and really only can be “significant” when we realize that the purpose for provision is His glory and not our comfort. I for one have really been convicted in the last couple of weeks as I think about how I fail in this in my life.
E to the WZ – Such a cool illustration of how people of any age or gifting can serve well and have a tremendous impact just by looking around and finding a need. How’s it going so far in Harrisburg? I’m really looking forward to hearing about your week this week.
AMEN Preach it nephew – I have often wondered if one of the primary purposes for our wealth in this country is to be senders – can you imagine if all the Christians here were committed to living way below their means – how many people could be reached – how many churches could be built (it costs $5000 to build a church in Africa)to equip new believers to take the gospel to their kinsmen ( a native missionary in India can be sent for $1400 a year)read The Challenge of Missions by Oswald J. Smith and Mark Brazee !!! and Revolution In World Missions!!! by K. P. Yohanen and check this out http://www.matthew548.com/cares.html We all love you all and miss you – the Silones
AP-
good job for continuing the blog and the Spirit-led introspection. I hope to not waste my life at 33 or 73…thanx to all the Es and aunts for the different angles on how to continually serve the LORD…seriously…what are we dong with the lives He gave us? It’s so cool to think of the possibilities!
AP thank you for posting some more thoughts, keep it up!
The question you posed (Is life lived in another country in service to the Lord superior to a life here in the U.S.?) is one I’ve struggled with a lot. I think it goes back to excercising your giftedness though. On Sunday I was talking to a guy who is a pastor in Dallas; we talked a bit about missions and he expressed just a longing that God would call him overseas… but as he had looked at his skill set and his gifts he realized that he could “do more damage” by ministering primarily in the US. Which I think is awesome! Here is a guy who isn’t just taking on a ministry because its easy and its the culture he’s used to, but because he feels compelled to be there as it seems to be the best employment of his giftedness for the Kingdom.
I think we’ve all got to look at the gifts (spiritual, physical, material, etc.) that God has given us and seek to have His will guide us to the best place on earth to express those gifts in community. Maybe that’s Valencia, CA; maybe that’s Kigali, Rwanda… but either way the goal is the same: to glorify God by using all the strength of all of your days to share the love of Christ in how you live.
Selfishly, of course my answer to your question is yes:-) The rest of the world is much more fun then then suburbs!
SEZ
Thanks for putting the thoughts down AP, definitely a gift from the Lord to spend time talking with both Dick and Jaques. I’ve thought about those three points quite a bit since the drive to Gulu; I was amazed at how accute Dick’s senses are to the battle that’s all around us, I understand the last point about insignificance, but I think to assume that we equally redeemed servants could distinguish significance from insignificance by assigining location or role to the equation is to begin to tread in waters we are not called to. I think all of Romans 12 sheds MASSIVE light on the subject, if I could learn to live out Romans 12, and in that understand what God has given me to serve the body, who am I to say that a dishwasher in pick your town USA who understands and lives that is any less significant than Dick who understands and lives this in Uganda? I have a feeling there’s going to be a ton of surprises in terms of significance when we get to Heaven. I loved his first two points though and there’s no doubt a foreign ministry helps kill the earthly perspective both internal and external like few other things. What an awesome trip it was!
Thanks for the comment Jeff. After rereading this post a few times, I think I may have been misleading with my closing question. I know insignificance and superiority are some big words to throw around and I don’t want to do it lightly. Hopefully my thoughts on this will be cleared up when I write about the similarity of ministry in another post, but for now, I’ll quickly try to explain what I meant about significance and superiority of setting.
I totally believe that a life of significance can indeed be lived here, in even the humblest of settings, just like the people preparing food for the Zellers this week. My point in asking this question is more about questioning how easy it is to live that Romans 12 life in different settings. I know for me it is so much more difficult to think in that mindset when living in this culture, and I really admire those that can and do.
Just wanted to let you know you have an international readership! … that is until I get home.
Hope you are well my friend.
SEZ