Are you mission focused?

Mission focused...

Are you mission focused?

"Then He called His twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And He said unto them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.’ And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where,” (Luke 9:1-6 KJV)

Nothing that is valuable is achieved without effort. Fritz Kreisler, the famous violinist, testified to this point when he said, “Narrow is the road that leads to the life of a violinist. Hour after hour, day after day and week after week, for years, I lived with my violin. There were so many things that I wanted to do that I had to leave undone; there were so many places I wanted to go that I had to miss if I was to master the violin. The road that I traveled was a narrow road and the way was hard.”

As we look at all of this passage, let’s remember a few things.

1. We have the might and the right to do the mission we have been given (Verse 1).

2. We are to emulate the Master’s mission and methods (Verse 2).

3. We are to travel light and not let STUFF burden us down (Verse 3).

4. We are to not let petty preferences interrupt the mission (Verse 4).

5. We succeed when we obey (Verse 5).

6. What’s the hold up? (Verse 6)

I used to have a supervisor that was as focused a person that I’ve ever met. We called him Red; as a matter of fact, I can’t remember his real name. He used to pull this little saying out all the time that I thought was both hilarious and convicting. The first time he said it to me it blew my mind. Red walked up to where we were working and said something like, “How are you boys doing? Have you got every thing you need to work with?”

To which I replied, “Sure, we don’t need anything.”

“Then, what’s the hold up?” Red replied.

I never saw that coming! The whole point to Red’s question and answer session was to say “HURRY UP! GET TO IT!” It was a sly way to encourage us to work harder. His point was that if we had all we needed, there was no excuse not to be further along in the task at hand.

When it comes to the mission that God has given His people I don’t think the problem is having what we need. I think the problem is focus. We get hung up in too many peripherals. To master the violin Fritz Kreisler had to stay focused on the task at hand. He had to give up things he WANTED to do that he might do the things he HAD to do. He had to give up places that he WANTED to go that he might be in the places that he HAD to be. Kreisler’s number one priority was to master the violin and he was very focused on that; he didn’t let any thing get in the way of his mission.

Our mission is to share the Gospel. That’s what we are to be focused on. We have all that we need. Do you concentrate more on self than the mission? Do you think up more reasons to fail and not share than you do reasons to go and share?

Are you mission focused?