There’s a saying that if you are always prepared, you won’t have to take time to get prepared when an opportunity presents itself. You won’t have to get ready to be ready.
This is true for almost everything: A musician putting in many tedious hours of practice so that when asked to perform at a weekend gig, he’s ready. A college athlete expending much time and energy in conditioning, strength training and practice so that when the call for “next man up” comes, he’s ready. The paramedic who has honed her skills through study, review and repetitive practice so that when the emergency call comes, she’s ready.
We can apply this principle to followers of Jesus Christ. We never know when God will present us with a divine appointment. We need to get ready – and stay ready. However, not everybody thinks that way. Many believers read their Bibles and attend worship services regularly, but when God opens up an opportunity – to tell someone about Jesus; help a young believer struggling with her faith; pray for someone in need, or perform an act of compassion and mercy in the name of Christ – they hesitate. ‘I’m not ready.’
Unlike the prophet Isaiah – who after hearing God ask, “‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?’ responded, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8) – they respond, “Here am I. Send someone else!”
This runs contrary to the admonition from the apostle Peter who said, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer [make a defense] to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).
Others wait for God to give them a special “calling,” sending them to some exotic locale where they can engage in ministry with people who have never heard the Gospel message. A call to the “mission field.” There’s a fallacy in this kind of thinking. As Oswald Chambers stated in his classic devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, “Never allow the thought, ‘I’m of no use where I am.’ You certainly can be of no use where you’re not.” The mission field is right here – not “over there.”
When I was a newspaper editor, very young in my faith, I had conversations with members of my staff about spiritual matters. We’d discuss our various convictions, but it never occurred to me that I could engage them in a serious conversation about what the Bible says. Years later, after joining the staff of a Christian ministry, I realized my newspaper office could have been as much a “mission field” as some remote village.
In one of his books, the late Jim Petersen wrote about an encounter he had on a trans-Atlantic voyage with two young men heading to Africa to become missionaries. They were looking forward to telling people across the ocean about Jesus. “That’s great,” Petersen reacted. “How many people have you led to Christ back in the States?” With curious looks on their faces, the men responded, “Well, no one.”
Apparently, they had never even attempted to share their faith with people they saw every day at school, at work or in their neighborhoods, where they spoke the same language and basically shared the same culture. But they had no doubt about being able to communicate the Gospel message to an unfamiliar people group with a totally different geographic setting, culture and language.
After His crucifixion and resurrection, and shortly before His ascension to Heaven, Jesus gave His disciples their final instructions. He promised them, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Yes, the Lord would ultimately send them “to the ends of the earth,” but their starting point was home – Jerusalem, familiar territory.
So, the key is not the where of serving as Christ’s “ambassadors,” as 2 Corinthians 5:20 terms it. It’s about being ready – striving to be prepared – no matter where we are or where the Lord sends us.
That neighbor you occasionally see and say hello to across the street? Perhaps that’s someone you should pray for, asking the Lord to make it possible for you to talk with him or her about Jesus. I’ve discovered the gym where I work out can be a “mission field” where, surprisingly enough, lots of folks have never heard the truths of the Gospel communicated in a way they could understand.
A friend used to give business executives he was mentoring a sign they could post in their offices, just above the doorway, so they’d see it every time they walked through it. The sign read, “You Are Now Entering the Mission Field.”
We’re familiar with what John 3:16 says, that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This means everyone we encounter – at school, at work, next door, in the grocery store, or even at church – is someone Christ died for that needs to hear about this priceless gift that’s been offered. We just need to be ready.
