Responsibilities

As an educator, many of the things I am asked to do in my job are mandated from sources outside the classroom. The state and federal government place requirements on educators that do not always provide for effective classroom instruction, however because they are mandated, I must comply. Sometimes I am even asked to participate in programs that aren't fully developed or explained. (Race to the Top for example.)

In the field of missions, there lies some comparison. Like education, missionaries (and all Christians for that matter) are called to do something that may not make any sense. They are given a mandate that they are compelled to follow. The missions mandate of making the Gospel know to every tribe, tongue, and nation (ethnos) seems impossible at worst, and impractical at best. Also like the education field, the missionary going to the field also must "go to work" and participate in programs yet unseen or understood. To the casual (or non-believing) observer this seems like a recipe for failure, not success. But this "reality" of the missions mandate could not be further from the Truth.

You see, unlike the human-directed field of public education, the mission field as mandated in the Bible is God-directed. God cannot lie and he does not do anything to discredit HIMSELF. If HE has directed it then it must be good. Likewise the difference between education and missions is also apparent in moving forward into the unknown. With education uncertainty and doubt may abound because we know the plans are human created and quite possibly, are still being formulated. With God's plan for missions, the plan has been set from the beginning, with faith in Christ being the key to understading and completing the plan. The uncertainty and doubt, give way to confidence and purpose through Faith built in a relationship with CHRIST.