Yesterday, as I waited at the stop for the bus to take me over to the place we meet for worship in Modřany, I was thinking…
Jesus said “the fields were white unto harvest.” It doesn’t always seem that this is so. The spiritual need in the Czech Republic is so great, but so few really understand what is wrong with them and who can bring real healing to their lives. It’s a struggle to gain any kind of hearing for the gospel of Christ. The Farniks — who have labored in this field for so many years — understand this much better than I after a few brief visits.
But as the Spirit teaches us, “we walk by faith and not by sight.” We may not see the “whiteness,” the ripeness of the harvest, but if God says it’s so, we must believe it, and act with confidence upon that hope. There are disappointments that I was not able to do more during the month here in Prague. But God’s ways are not mine, and I hope something I said or did will bless a life and advance the cause of the Kingdom. God only knows.
As these thoughts jumbled through my mind, I was listening to some Newsboys music to prepare my heart for the coming worship. The Newsboys have written some pretty stirring “missionary” songs in the last few years. and one, “The Mission,” began to play. My weak, unbelieving heart was captured (again) by Pete Furler’s lyrics, and began to pulse in time with the urgent drumbeat of this anthem. I was reminded of the vision of faith that a missionary (or, really, any Christian) must carry as we live our lives and bear our witness.
When the runners came from Bethlehem
All breathless with good news
They were passing a baton forward through time
The commission, from God's lips to our ears
Carried by His saints two thousand years
Connects us all to the same lifeline
As I fix my eyes ahead
I can feel the Spirit's breath...
(And) I can hear the mission bell ringing out loud and clear
It's the revolution Jesus started, and it's here
Echoing across the world from the shores of Galilee
I can hear the mission bell call for you and me
I wanna run with fire
It's my heart's desire
Lifting your love higher
In the history of our faith's arrivals
Great awakenings, Welsh revivals
Saints and martyrs, summoned by a new birth
Patrick's save of the Irish nation
William Carey's expectation
Lambs and Lions
Called to the ends of the earth
Gotta put my hand to the plow
Not looking back, not now...
That was the tonic for my weariness and doubts about effectiveness. As I rode the bus over to Modřany, my heart soared again with the vision, and the commitment expressed in the chorus that must be ours every day…
I wanna run with fire
It's my heart's desire
Lifting your love higher
May God make it so.
No comments:
Post a Comment