Re- Entry! part 2

*** The following is the second part of an applicable except from Joan Wood’s book Re-Entry! that was featured in this year’s Oasis bookstore. To order the complete book from Amazon, you can find it here! Enjoy**

Drop the word ‘HOME’ from your vocabulary; you’re just changing mission fields!

Sometimes, the word "home" can evoke feelings of comfort, familiarity, and routine. But with that comfort can come complacency — a tendency to let our guard down, grow spiritually passive, or forget the mission and purpose that God has called us to. Coming back to familiar settings can cause us to lose our dependency on God or our hunger for His Word.

On a trip, we often shift our mindset. We’re alert. We’re ready. We step out of our comfort zones and say, “Here I am, Lord — use me in any way.” We serve with open hands and willing hearts, often in unfamiliar places or roles.  For example, clean toilets, dig a trench, carry ridiculously heavy equipment from one place to another, ? but how about at home?

Here’s the truth: that same spirit of availability, humility, and purpose is just as needed at home — maybe even more so. God doesn’t only call us on mission trips. He calls us in the classroom, at our jobs, in our families, and with our friends. You may love working with kids on a trip, but are you volunteering for the nursery or teaching Sunday School in your home church? Hmmmm.

*Don’t let “home” become an excuse for spiritual laziness. Let it be the place where your mission truly begins.

Home is the place where your mission truly begins! 

Take a moment to consider these verses: 

1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV  “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Colossians 3:17,23 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Vs 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”

A few more verses for you to think about:  Take a minute and journal what they mean to you.

Ephesians 2:19 NKJV  “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”

Hebrews 11:13 NIV  “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”

To minimize the effects of re-entry, confirm your citizenship in heaven, and maximize your residence on earth.

Philippians 3:20  “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

When we become citizens of heaven, we are enlisted in God’s army, advancing the Kingdom of heaven here on earth.   In my limited understanding of our military system, I believe that when you join the U.S. military, you agree to live by a different set of laws, and you agree to uphold a higher standard of discipline, loyalty, and obedience.

Similarly, as citizens of God’s Kingdom, we are called to live by a new set of values – Kingdom values. We no longer live according to the patterns of this world, but we live under the authority of our King Jesus. Our mission is clear: to love God, love people, and make disciples. We are to bring light into darkness and hope into broken places.

Just like the military, there is sacrifice, training, and battle – but the victory is already won through Christ!

We no longer live for ourselves, but for the cause of Christ. We are His ambassadors, bringing His love to a world that desperately needs Him.

Defining The Mission

To quote an old movie, “Our mission, should we choose to accept it”, is to spread the Good News of Jesus everywhere we go! Is that what you did on the mission trip? Then that’s what He wants you to do at home, too!  Simple! 

 Just the address of the mission has changed; instead of Ethiopia/ Kenya/ Thailand, etc., it’s now Hometown, your passport country!

God has us exactly where He wants us.  We were born to specific parents, and we live in specific places.  If you were supposed to be born in Africa, you would have been!  God has a reason, a purpose, and a mission for your life and mine.

 The mission is the same; the only thing that has changed is the address.

This is just an excerpt from one section. Thanks for reading it. There’s so much more.

Final Words

Thank you in advance for going….and thank you in advance for coming home and being the light and love of Jesus to “your” world and sphere of influence.

May you experience His joy and see Him smiling at you! :-)

On the adventure of Jesus, together!

~joan

***To order the complete book from Amazon, you can find it here!**