We had four people from Partners in Evangelism International at our church yesterday.  Two serve the mission here in America and two are pastors in the Ukraine.  It was a great day.  As we listened to the Ukrainian pastors through an interpreter, I was struck with their passion for missions.  Their great desire was to reach the people in their country who had no gospel witness.  There was an intensity expressed that I have not seen in awhile.  And the challenge for me was clear:  Do I have a passion for missions?

A passion for missions goes right along with the theme of this blog.  Jesus had a passion to reach us, and came to die for us that we might be reconciled to God.  If I have a passion for God, I will want to share the good news so more people will know and honor God, so God will be glorified by more and more people.  If I have compassion for people, I will want to share with them how they can be forgiven of their sins, have a new life with God, and the hope of the resurrection.

To live by the three passions, I must have a passion for missions.  So do I have a passion for missions?  I confess my passion had waned, but yesterday’s challenge awakened it.  By God’s grace it will continue and grow.  But how to live out this passion?  Three ideas:

Give: My wife on our way home last night was asking what we might cut out so that we might be able to give more to missions.  We have so much compared to much of the world.  We need to re-evaluate our priorities.  How might we sacrifice for the sake of the gospel? 

Go: What might we do to share the gospel in our own neighborhood, in our own community?  And might God send us on a short term trip sometime?

Pray: Those who go out need our prayers.  We need to get more serious about praying regularly for missionaries our church supports and other missionaries we know, as well as praying for the outreach of our own church and sister churches.

Father, grant us a greater passion for missions that plays out in our daily lives.