The Heart of God

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in hims shall not perish but have eternal life"

Following Jesus involves many things that we as Christians can focus on - prayer, the Bible, worship, fellowship, pastoral care, spiritual warfare, healing, prophecy, giving - the list seems endless at times. Sometimes we just need to remember what is the focus of the heart of God. Early in the last century one of the world's greatest theologians, Jurgen Moltman, said "It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church." Mission is not something that God does it is an attribute of his character, it is nature to be always wanting to draw the lost and the least into his Kingdom. The problem for the Church worldwide is that mission has been relegated to an occassional activity that has to be worked at rather than an expression of who we are. We have made Church to be something that is for us so that we might be comfortable while God is drawing us to sacrificially follow him into the world calling people back to Him.Mission is not just a good idea it is the very heart of God.

'For God so loved the world...' are such well known words to us that they lose their power. It is because our God is so loving that mission is such a natural expression of who he is. It is not something he has to work at or plan for or wait for the right opportunity. His is always reaching out longing for the lost and the least to turn to him and be saved. His heart is that everyone should be saved and so his Holy Spirit is constantly at work in the world convicting people of sin, righteousness and judgement. Our assignment is to so capture his heart of love for the world, his longing for all to be saved that Mission because as natural a part of who we are as it is for God himself.

Is it possible for us to regain mission as an expression of who we are and not simply an add on activity? Can we be the kind of people who find mission as natural and as vital as breathing? When we do we might once again truly reflect the character of God.

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