Personal Mission Field/Boasting in the Lord

A beautiful pine makes music to me, it is not hired; through Christ, I fare no worse at any time than you do. Though you delight in your own enjoyments, greater than all wealth, for my part I am grateful for what is given me through my dear Christ.

  - Anonymous, The Hermit's Hut (Irish, 10th century)

But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God has assigned to us...

  - 2 Corinthians 10.13

Some authorities speculate that the composer of The Hermit's Hut was a solitary monk who had just left his monastery to go on "green martyrdom" in preparation for a larger mission. In "green martrydom" a man went off on his own to live in a hut or cave and learn to know the presence and provision of God. If he pleased the Lord during this time, He would send him a few disciples to train, and, soon enough, they would become a missionary band reaching out to the locals with the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Our poet seems to be responding to a kinsman, a member of a royal court, who apparently was trying to persuade him to come back home, where he could know more of the comforts and joys appropriate to his station in life. But our monk insists that he is more than abundantly blessed right where he is. His poem boasts about the abundance of beauty and provision King Jesus has made for him among the trees, animals, and plants of his immediate environment.

He guides us through the evidence of God's glory within his sphere of influence, his Personal Mission Field, as it were, and delights in every creature, food, and even his humble dwelling as an emblem of God's presence and provision. He is like a docent in an art museum, pointing out the beauties of each painting to wondering visitors, and he is obviously filled with delight to be right where he is.

We are all called to be docents of the glory of God, to see through the merely mundane items in our surroundings to the deeper evidence of God's sustaining and providing grace. By His steadfast love and faithfulness the Lord holds the universe together, and He speaks His glory and offers glimpses into His beauty, wisdom, and power in every created thing.

Are we too busy to hear or see the glory God is making known? Have we simply become too familiar with our immediate surroundings that we take them for granted, failing to see the beauty and wonder inherent in every created thing, whether of the creation or culture?

We are called to make the knowledge of God's glory known to the world. Like that solitary monk, we all have much of which to boast in the Lord in the everyday items of our personal sphere of influence. Shall we learn to meditate through the mundanity of these things to the deeper spiritual message - the message of glory - each of them contains?

Then let us boast of the Lord Who so lavishly and abundantly supplies all our needs through His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

Today at The Fellowship

The crisis in Egypt might provide an opportunity for America to rethink her foreign policy. Today's ReVision has some thoughts on this.

Like the glory of God, ethical issues confront us on every hand - questions of right and wrong concerning every aspect of our lives. Are we prepared to think through these from a Christian point of view? Get your copy of The Ground for Christian Ethics today, and start learning how to think with the mind of Christ.

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T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.