Mission of Love

I hope that we all understand that we have a mission everyday - love. We usually think that we have to be a pastor, a missionary, volunteer somewhere, or give to something to be able to show love to others. We are under the assumption that there is a mission field somewhere that we must conquer and it must be done through some great calling. However, I want to challenge you today that you are in your calling. Everyday you are in a place to be on a mission of love to whomever you encounter. Jesus was on this mission everyday.

In John 4 Jesus comes to a well and rest as his disciples go to town to buy some lunch. Jesus is just going to sit and rest, but he encounters the woman at the well. Most of us know that story. He offers her water that will quench her thirst forever and tells her somethings about herself that he could not have known. He fulfills his mission of just loving her right then. Later on in the chapter is records this:

In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, "Rabbi, eat. Aren't you going to eat?"
He told them, "I have food to eat you know nothing about."
The disciples were puzzled. "Who could have brought him food?"
Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn't you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's harvest time!
"The Harvester isn't waiting. He's taking his pay, gathering in this grain that's ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That's the truth of the saying, 'This one sows, that one harvests.' I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others."
Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman's witness: "He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!" They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior of the world!"

John 4:31-42

So today open your eyes to the mission field you have right in front of you. You are on a mission of love. Love is contagious and if we could just love those that we encounter as we sit, walk, shop, talk, and live with - the world would follow and know how to live. So many people today are just wanting to be loved, accepted, and cared for - just for being them. This is the field that is ready to harvest, that has been worked on by others and all we need to do is act in loving kindness to those around us. We must being this within ourselves first (see post from last week of loving yourself) if we are to love others.

You do not have to be a "minister" of some sort, or volunteer or time to some organization, or be a missionary somewhere - although these are all great things. We just have to be ourselves in the place God has placed us right now, in the job we are in, in the relationships we have, with the people encounter. I can sell hot dogs on the side of the road and fulfill this mission.......

Namaste'