When Missions is Mundane and Knowing God is More Thrilling

Mary Margaret standing next to the plane after flight.
Mary Margaret Flook

Mary Margaret Flook

Mary Margaret Flook is social media manager and staff writer for The Baptist Courier.

Disappointment

About four years ago, I decided to take a discovery flight during Christmas break as a freshman in college. I sat in the Cessna 172R Skyhawk with my headset on ready to fly. I was instructed on how to steer the plane using the pedals at my feet. We took off and I lifted the nose of the plane as we soared into the sky. Pretty cool, right?

Inside the cockpit

I made simple turns and saw the landscape of my home state, Florida. I enjoyed the flight, but it oddly felt regular. The single-engine plane didn’t feel THAT much different than being on a commercial airplane. I realized that hours of flying would eventually become mundane for a missionary pilot (the occupation I considered).

I landed the plane (with help), paid the instructor $80, and went home. I sat in the closet and cried because I was disappointed.

Flying wasn’t all that I thought it would be.

Missions — Hard and Mundane

That flying experience serves as a great illustration of what missionaries often experience when they move overseas. We expect great things and think of famous missionaries, and then we move overseas and realize that mission work isn’t glamorous; it’s a work of love.

Recently I emailed a missionary friend, June Estes*. Estes* and I were friends in college. A year and a half ago, she moved to Southeast Asia on an initiative to engage unreached people groups.

I asked her this question, “Is international missions everything you thought it would be?”

Estes* responded 18 days later and said that when she had received my email, she was in a city undergoing medical tests and having a severe allergic reaction to a medicine. Estes* described the hardship that she experienced — throwing up every couple of weeks, relational conflict, homesickness, and hundreds of rejections to the gospel message.

She said, “So, no, this has not been everything I expected it to be. In some ways, my expectations and hopes have been dashed. But in other ways, this has been much, much more than what I ever could have thought or planned for myself.”

Around the same time that I communicated with Estes,* I received a newsletter from a different missionary friend, Elizabeth James,* who moved to Southeast Asia about three months ago. James* was my mentor before she left overseas.

In her email, she shared a few details of her life and how many hours she spends doing language learning. And then she said, “I guess what I’m trying to show you is I am starting to settle into a ‘normal life’ where it is more of a daily grind and seems monotonous [the] majority of the time. Most of my life is not glamorous and fun. [The] majority of the nights I feel like I have accomplished very little, and every day starts blending in together.”

Estes* experienced hardship, and James* experienced mundanity.

Hard and mundane aren’t the adjectives used in promotional videos for mission organizations, but they are reality. At some point in ministry, the inspirational background music fades. And when the newness wears off, and all the dreamy emotions are stripped away, missionaries are left with Christ alone, who is the greatest treasure and the greatest reward — even better than ministry itself.

A Different Mindset — Daily Faithfulness to Jesus

Recently, I listened to a college student share with a friend about her mission trip to Kenya.

The student said, “I learned that it’s just about being faithful to the Lord every day.”

She traveled all the way to Africa and came back with the lesson of daily faithfulness to Jesus. Both missionaries in Southeast Asia came to similar conclusions.

Estes,* the missionary met with hardship, said, “I’ve had to totally reframe what ‘success’ on the field looks like. Success is faithfulness and relying on God — not a church planted, not people believing, not baptisms, although, if those things happen, praise God!”

She continued, “I have been privileged to see some of these things, but I’ve had to come back to this question: If no one said yes during the duration of my term, would it still be worth it? Is He enough? Is the calling He placed on my heart enough? I wasn’t even considering questions like that back when I said yes to this job.”

And James,* the missionary met with mundanity, said, “I am learning that this is what the Father wants from me and you, just the daily obedience of doing what is needed that day. Studying language, or doing dishes, or having the same conversation over and over as I get to know people — all of that is what is needed, and that is faithfulness.”

James* continued, “I don’t get to share every day. I do look for opportunities every day, but the results are not up to me. This is a hard thing to live because I am a results type of person, but I know I’m walking behind and with Him, and that’s all He is asking me to do.”

Our grateful response to the Lord’s salvation is faithfulness and obedience to Him, wherever we are, in whatever condition we’re in, in whatever we’re doing, wherever He may lead us, regardless of the results. That is such a glorious and freeing truth for those who stay “home” and those who are called to go elsewhere. Why do we have to travel to faraway lands to realize the simplicity of following Jesus?

Back to the Basics — Love

Missions can seem so big, so “out there,” that we must return to the basics: the loving heart of Christ that produces love in us (1 Jn. 4:7–12). We often over-complicate and idealize missions into this glamorous aspiration for the “serious” Christian. But what if a relationship with the Lord and obedience to His mission is much simpler?

Which commandment is the most important of all? Read Jesus’ response to a scribe who asked Jesus that question:

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12:28–31).

Only a perfect God would sum up all the commandments with love. The commandment to love God with all of who we are doesn’t change when we step on foreign land. He is still first. God doesn’t need us. He has already chosen a people for Himself and accomplished salvation for them. And He will draw them to Himself. But He has chosen to use believers as His instruments to bear His name and proclaim His message — for that is how faith comes (Rom. 10:14–17). And it is imperative that we lovingly obey His command to make disciples (Matt. 28:18–20). Our obedience will flow from our love (Jn. 14:15).

Jesus — Our Great Reward and Satisfaction

So, can missions be thrilling, and adventurous? Absolutely. The same missionary who endures hardship has ridden in rickshaws, hiked up mountains, and captured breathtaking views. Even better is the thrill of someone repenting and believing the gospel. There’s something spectacular about being a part of Matthew 28:18–20 and Revelation 7:9–10. Moving overseas and sharing the gospel is both exciting and rewarding.

But love and worship of God must be the heart posture of everything we do (1 Cor. 13). The love of Christ is the genuine and lasting fuel for missions.

Missions is not about my heart’s perceived need for adventure, significance, purpose, and fulfillment. We cannot look to missions to satisfy our cravings for “more.” Instead, those cravings should drive us to seek Him with our whole hearts (Ps. 119:10). And in seeking Him, we may find that our desires line up with His (Ps. 37:4).

Only knowing God can satisfy us, regardless of what country we’re in or what work we’re doing. Eternal satisfaction and contentment are found in a person, Jesus Christ. Knowing and worshipping God is better than even the most successful missionary journey. Jesus is the point, not missions. He is our reward.

John Piper, in his book, Let the Nations be Glad, said, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.”

Giving Our Lives Away for the Sake of Christ

Knowing God is more fulfilling and satisfying than anything I might do for Him. He is more thrilling, epic, beautiful, exciting, and glorious than anything in all of creation (Rom. 11:36, Ps. 16:9–11). He is the reason we go.

But guess what? When we discover Him as our treasure, He’s worth selling all we have and buying a field (Matt. 13:44). He’s worth losing our life for (Lk. 9:24–25). Everything else we can count as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord (Phil. 3:8–11). So why wouldn’t we be obedient to the Great Commission? Why wouldn’t we give our lives away to honor the name of Jesus, our greatest treasure? We are called to become like Him in His death and in His resurrection (Phil. 3:9–10).

Giving up your life for Jesus may not mean moving overseas as a missionary. It may mean being a faithful mom at home where you receive little recognition. It may be serving as your parents’ caregivers. It may be working a corporate job and sharing the gospel with difficult coworkers. And all of those roles are valuable, because Christ is valuable, and we do it unto Him (Col. 3:17).

Christian, becoming a missionary (or entering any kind of vocational ministry) isn’t the answer to your desire for significance, value, and worth. Knowing Christ is the answer. He is significant. And any life, anywhere, that points to Jesus is significant.

*names changed for security reasons