Before we could even prepare or recognize what was happening, slowly things were being stripped from us. Restaurants closed, coffee shops closed, and parks. Then corporate worship came to halt and life as we knew it shifted into a world that old books that nailed science fiction wrote about. Schools closed and summer began early from inside our houses. I worked through the grief of losing community groups and the second half of my college semester. Then I began to learn how to communicate through the digital world in my friendships, ministry and other relationships. The world let out a unified groan as we tried our best to keep our hopes up on when we could see people without the six-foot difference.
“Embrace what I have for you child.”
So what if the things that seemed to distract us from a deeper relationship with God–sport games, work excuses, religious tasks, etc.–what if these things stopped so that the Lord could shift our eyes altogether. What if we kept mixing up religion and relationship like the Israelites did for so long. Suddenly their sacrifices and burnt offerings became our “Sunday only” Christianity, and tithes and good deeds became our connection to God.
“Embrace what I have for you child.”
I’ve been learning a lot about a simplistic walk with Christ, that maybe this interruption in life could actually be used to benefit my relationship with the Creator.
I think our instructions were clear, for how to live without what the world calls “necessities”. For how to live in satisfaction with only Him. How do we survive quarantine? How do we trust His plans during this? We fix our gaze upon Him and we remain. For me, I used to think missions was an extravagant call, like the Great Commission (Matthew 28). That you had to be in a country of need to live out being missional. This interruption and the revitalized Ten2 Project, has allowed me to see that fixing my eyes on Him and remaining in Him is missional. It’s relying upon His plan to see your mission field as where your feet are. It’s seeking His precepts when deciding how to reach your neighbors. It’s remaining in His Word to embrace the simplicity of a life with Him. It’s abiding in His Son to mirror His life so your mission field gets a glimpse of who Jesus is through you. As we embrace what He has for us during this confusing time full of disappointments, I believe the Great Commission can begin to unfold across all the fields we reach as we simply turn to Him and persistently dwell in His Word.
“Embrace what I have for you child.”
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith..” Hebrews 12:2
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you..” John 15:4
– Mackenzie Thompson, Ten2 2020 Participant & Storyteller