Desire is not Enough

So many young people talk a lot about how they love going on mission and doing something for God and others but when confronted with the call, they back out.

You asked them how they feel about the mission, they would reply with an exciting sharing of passion and conviction and yet when asked if they are going fulltime for the Lord, they got cold feet.  They would tell you that they would love to go all out for the Lord, that is there desire, in fact, there deepest desire. But it seems like, when considerations of so many things are included already; the calling is less heard anymore and soon ignored.

If we summarize all the reasons, we can sum it up in two:

1.    Fear of the unknown – we don’t know what will happen to us in the mission. Something unknown is scary.

2.    The things to give up – there are so many things that we had accustomed to that has become a comfort zone for us. Giving it up is hard.

Two things that may help us overcome these reasons:

1.    Trust – all of us, whether in mission or secular works, faces situations were we had to decide on something we are not so sure of; new job to take, new work place, new relationships. All we need is trust. If we want to be sure, then we can never be surer than to decide with and for God. If we can trust our own instinct, how about including God in our decisions?

Come to think of this, when we ride a plane, we trust the pilot that he will take off and land the plane safely. No matter how safe the seat belt is, overall safety still lies in the hands of the pilot. How much more should we trust our heavenly pilot who will take us off and land us safely in this journey called life? We will never know what lies ahead if we don’t try.

2.    Courage – when we are confronted with decisions, the tendency is to look at the things that we have to give up. The moment we count on the things that we have to leave behind, we cannot afford to give up anymore because we will think it’s too costly for a call.  But come to think of it, when we answer the call, yes, we are leaving some things behind, but we forget to look at the things we are actually about to receive.

We all have different kinds of blessings in our hands and we don’t want to let go of them, but how can we receive new ones if we don’t empty our hands? There are far greater things that lie ahead and all we need to experience them is a little courage to say yes.

The desire to go on mission is not enough; it will not take us to the finish line. We have to do something with our desire. We have to act and work for it. 

by aats