Welcome to the PMF Workshop for the week of November 2, 2020. I’m your host, T. M. Moore. Each week we provide teaching, encouragement, and resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field. By adopting the perspectives and practicing the disciplines we present in the Workshop, you can become more consistent and effective in realizing the presence, promise, and power of God’s Kingdom in your daily life.

Today’s Workshop is entitled, “Think You, Then Them.” Our text is Matthew 7.12:

“Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7.12

A daunting task
Working your Personal Mission Field can be a daunting task, and this for several reasons.

First, until it becomes just the way you live your life, it can be difficult to remember that you are always in your Personal Mission Field, and there’s always some good work you can do there. Slogging away at a job, sitting through classes at school, cleaning the house, doing the shopping, cutting the yard – these don’t seem like very missional activities. So it can be a challenge to envision and engage such activities from the perspective of restoring the reconciled world – which is the work appointed to us in our Personal Mission Field.

Second, we can be easily distracted from the larger vision of our lives. We get in mind, let’s say, something we want to accomplish today to enrich our Personal Mission Field with the Presence, promise, and power of Jesus – someone we want to talk to, some good work we hope to do, some way to bring more of the Lord’s beauty into the world. We make plans. We pray about it. We launch out with the best of intentions. But then something happens to sidetrack our intentions or hijack our hopes, and next thing you know, the prayed-for opportunity is lost.

Third, deep inside we know that going into our daily lives missionally, that is, with the intention of showing and telling Jesus, can be a little risky. Not everyone will welcome a word about the Lord. And some people can even be a little nasty about it. If we dwell on this, it can sap our intentions by loading our minds with rationalizations and excuses for not carrying through on our plans.

What we need is a handy way to keep the momentum going, day-in and day-out, for sowing and cultivating that section of the world/field which has been assigned to us.

Think you
Let me pass along a suggestion Susie brought to my attention just this morning: If we can embrace as a working principle the Golden Rule that Jesus taught in Matthew 7.12, then we’ll always be ready to do at least something to bring more of the Kingdom of God to earth in our Personal Mission Field.

Begin by staying in touch with yourself at all times. Make it a practice, at several points throughout the day, to ask yourself, “What would I like someone to do for me just now?” Maybe a quick text just to say, “Hey, I love you, and I’m praying for you.” How about a helping hand on a project? Or just a word of affirmation or appreciation? Maybe you’d just like someone to take an interest in what you’re doing?

There’s nothing sinful about asking this question. Jesus seems to invite it, if not insist on it. What do you want someone to do for you, that would bring a little brightness or lightness or joy to your day? Be specific. Pray about it. Share your desire with the Lord, and turn it over in your mind with Him as you move to your next task or work on whatever is at hand.

Then them
I have to emphasize that asking this question is not sinful. It could become sinful if you just stop at asking this question, then fall into moping or becoming resentful or angry because no one is showing up on cue to do for you what you want.

It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus, and how He can be made known in and through you to the people in your life.

So now, look around: Now that you know what you would like someone to do for you, go do it for someone else. Send a text. Speak to a co-worker. Complement a fellow student. Pray for a friend and send an email to let them know. If you’re at the grocery store, pick up a few greeting cards, and send one to a church member when you get home. Offer to help a co-worker or fellow student. Speak kindly to the checkout person. Stop to let another car into the line of traffic, and smile as you do.

Whatever you want someone to do for you, someone else would probably like to have done for them. You’ll be fulfilling the Law and the Prophets as this becomes your way of life. And Jesus, Who is always thinking about ways to channel His love to others, will show Himself in and through you in every gesture, every word, every smile you give to others in your Personal Mission Field.

The fact is that all the people in your Personal Mission Field are also in the Personal Mission Fields of several other believers. What if all believers lived this way? Each person is different. Each person has different needs and desires different things. If all God’s people would live this way toward others, ultimately, someone is going to meet the real and pressing need of someone else. When that happens, the love of Jesus will be driven home, and a door of opportunity may swing wide for the praise and glory of our Lord.

Live Christ’s Golden Rule throughout your Personal Mission Field. After a while, some people are going to notice. They’ll see that you are someone who has a different hope than all the other self-centered, irritable, grumpy, and inconsiderate people in their life. And when they do, they may be piqued to ask a reason for the hope that is within you. And then you can tell them.

Evangelizing your Personal Mission Field is not an event. It’s a process, and a process that consists of persistent small steps leading up to relationships and opportunities for talking with others about Jesus. If you can learn to think first about yourself, then about others, you’ll become more consistent at doing for others whatever you want them to do for you. And you’ll know the transforming power of Jesus at work in and through you, for the praise of His glory and grace.

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Tell us about what’s going on in your Personal Mission Field. What challenges are you facing? How has the Lord been leading or using you? Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your Personal Mission Field stories, and we might be able to use them to encourage one another in the Personal Mission Field Workshop.

For the Fellowship of Ailbe, and for the Personal Mission Field Workshop, this has been T. M. Moore.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.