All to God's Glory

The past week I spent my days working with young people. We worked with an infant church plant in White Plains, NY aptly named Christ the King. The work was fruitful. We were able to make over 1,000 contacts for the church. We were blessed by God's awesome working to see 3 salvations (please pray for Paul, Jeremy, and Tyrelle).

As leader of the mission trip, I attempted to impress on the youth two things that ought to drive us as we share the life-changing message of Christ. First, I shared the message of our purpose in life. Why should we even care about others? Why should we seek to give to others and serve them? The answer, I believe, lies in a brief passage at the beginning of Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27. The mark of God, His image, on each life makes every person valuable in God's eyes. It is this image that is the redeemable part of us. No matter how scarred the life. That image still exists. No matter how hard someone tries to deny the mark of God on their life. It will continue to be there. We are all image-bearers. So, I shared that we ought to treat every person in that way. Rich or poor. Black or white. Muslim or Christian. There is something redeemable in each of us. This should be the driving force behind all mission endeavors. This is whole point of Christ's coming, His life and death and resurrection. He came to redeem the image of God in those who would believe in Him. The reason the Gospel proper (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) gives hope is because Genesis 1:27 came before it. Without it, there is nothing to redeem, no reason to reconcile.

The second thing I attempted to explain to them is the difference between good and best. Our primary passage was 1 Corinthians 10:31. We talked about glorifying God in everything we do. We discussed the scope of this passage. Obviously, this particular scripture has broad implications. It touches and molds every part of our lives. But, the focus that evening was to understand that doing good does not necessarily equal doing what is best. I shared with them an experience where this was particularly true in my own life. The pastor of my church came to me around the first week of March and offered me the opportunity to take the youth on this trip. I spent the next two or three weeks praying and thinking about what I ought to do. My wife, who is 29 weeks pregnant, encouraged me to go. However, I expressed my concerns about leaving her during this point in her pregnancy. Finally, I decided that I would have to say no and take care of my wife. Seemingly, this was a good decision. In my mind, I was fulfilling God's command to care for my wife. As church ended one Sunday night, I was about to approach our pastor and tell him of my decision to stay home. Before I told him, I told Julie my decision. She proceeded to cry and tell me that I was making the wrong decision. I was, of course, taken aback by this show of emotion. After we talked a few more minutes and then prayed, I accepted this responsibility. Now, I realize that Julie was simply desiring the best for my life. She knew that my best for God would only come as a result of me going. Wanting to stay and care for her was wrong in only one way. The motivation behind it was selfishness. I wanted to do it because that is what I wanted and it would make me happy. In other words, if we do things for our sake (no matter how good they are), we can't do them for God's sake. The best is when we do something of the sake of God and Christ and His message.

This week served to show me much about myself, but the most important thing I learned is the best is always infinitely better the good.

To God be the glory!!