HIS Story

Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.

Those are words made by William Carey, a common pastor/teacher/shoemaker from England who is credited with spearheading the modern missions movement, through a simple book and a heart willing to follow where God led him. When I read his statement, it was like God summed up the tension I've felt over the last week or so and what He was trying to teach me.

I have been taking this missions class called Perspectives since the beginning of January, and it is transforming the way I see missions. It's transformed the way I see the Bible... history... HIS story. The Bible is God's story, how His name and renown have spread over the whole earth.


He made man and woman. He told them to fill the earth. He set apart a nation of people to preserve His name and bless all the nations of the earth with it. When that nation consistently failed to take His name to the nations, He sent His own Son to demonstrate His kingdom on earth and show the people what it means to be free from sin's power - to live under the rule of the kingdom of God. Jesus sent the disciples out to tell that message, which continued to spread throughout the whole earth. As explorers discovered new lands and the people who lived there, and as technology progressed, the name of Christ and His kingdom message covers every corner of the globe. Only a few crevices yet remain unreached.

Oh, what a glorious day that will be when I get to see the "great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, people, tribe, and language... crying out, Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 

The day when all the peoples of the earth will worship the Lord of Glory - the I AM - the Beginning and the End. Jesus the Messiah.

It's all about HIM. He has called me to be one of those to leave home and go to a people where His glory isn't yet known.

Yet that old devil keeps on trying to make me focus on ME.

What will they think of me if...? What if what I said came across wrong? What if my motives are misguided? I am not the right person for this. I doubt too much. I get all messed up in my head. I can't express myself.

That word Jesus spoke long ago is just as clear today, "Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness..."

How could I forget??? I'm supposed to be about building the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of Jessica. It is the devil's classic scheme to get me distracted from building His kingdom by getting me preoccupied with myself. My biggest problem is that I feel far from able to do much. But since I'm just a small part of God's story - with Him as author - my ability is no factor at all. So why expect anything less than God doing great things for the advancement of His glory? If His is the kingdom that truly matters, (and my story only has meaning when in sync with His story) why spend my life attempting to build any kingdom other than His?