Two days ago I had the chance to be invited to speak to a group of third-year medical students. Before the meeting, I was filled with mixed feelings. In my heart, I had so much to convey without wanting to sound admonishing.
What would I say? How would they take it? Was I would share be relevant?
In the end, I was so encouraged by their thirst to grapple with the idea of “missions” and servitude, and hear their unending questions about preparing themselves for short or long-term missions in future and to stay true to their calling in life.
Instead of dishing out answers on a platter, here’s sharing Ten Questions I posed to them to ask themselves,
about preparing oneself to serve the needy in the context of missions.
(Be forewarned, the answers might be tough to hear!)
1. What or where is my mission field at home?
You’re absolutely right. Serving in Africa does not make one more noble than serving at home. Instead of getting blown away by this rosy fairy-tale idea that being in a mud-hut somewhere is somehow more romantic, ask yourself what you are passionate about right here, at home. That will give you an idea of what your calling is, be it locally or overseas or both. It could be to children with special needs, youth who need befriending, the elderly living alone in one-room flats, delivering food to the needy…
If you don’t yet know where your “mission field” is at home, don’t think bringing a passport through customs will automatically reveal God’s will to you about your life’s calling. It’s possible, but don’t count on it.
===
2. What am I doing today to prepare myself for tomorrow?
Making a difference cannot be compartmentalized into a two-week humanitarian trip or a weekly befriending programme. It can sometimes be hard too, to see how your learning Physics or Literature can make a difference to anybody in future. But ask yourself, is how you are living your life, and what you are investing your time and effort in, moulding your character and refining your attitudes to bring you closer to your end goal of helping others? If majority of your time is spent groaning about how meaningless and irrelevant your learning is for your future, then re-evaluate.
What do you need to add, subtract or change about your life now to make it relevant for your future?
===
3. What lifestyle am I living?
I made it plain that I was frustrated listening to young people telling me how interested they were in helping the needy but carrying on with their lifestyles of partying, clubbing, saving up to buy branded bags or shoes, pedicure packages and holidays to Europe. If you really want to prepare yourself for missions, and want to be open to wherever God may call you to, then choose to be content with less instead of more. Invest in giving, or consider sponsoring a child or more a month. A 21-year old girl who was keen to find out more about sponsoring a child from me told me she changed her mind because her mum suggested it would be better to wait till she had a stable job. My question would then be whether buying a dress would have compelled her to seek her parents’ permission as well.
Live simply, so others may simply life.
===
4. Who am I dating/ who do I intend to date?
I had a friend who sat down with me one day very solemnly and confessed he was heading for destruction, with his love for serving the needy crashing head-on with a fiancée who would settle no less than with a private condominium and a luxury car for their engagement gift. I felt sad that he was in that position, and asked a few more questions to clarify his life’s goals, trying my best not to be judgmental. Two months later, I was surprised but glad to hear he had put a stop to the relationship, before sending out the wedding invites. He’s now engaged to someone else who travels with him on mission teams to developing countries regularly.
The person you marry and his/her attitudes to humility, serving others and mission work will profoundly affect the opportunities you have to serve in future as well. Are you looking out for someone who is compassionate, simple, willing to suffer?
===
5. How am I spending my free time?
If every holiday is spent in Europe with friends or a road-trip to the States, ask yourself if you are really serious about missions. Actually doing it and being involved with ministering to others and working alongside role models who have trail-blazed the path ahead is different from watching from the side-lines. Read missionary biographies, attend mission conferences, catch a museum exhibit on human-trafficking.
Be involved.
===
6. Where does most of my money go to?
One of the hardest things for me right now is getting my head round the idea that I will not be drawing a steady income when we serve in Africa. This blow, however, has been greatly mitigated by the fact that we had the habit of giving even when we were earning.
Where our money goes, there will our hearts follow, too.
===
7. Who is journeying with me?
We all need encouragers, someone to pat us on the back, hold our hand and point our eyes in the right direction when we feel the journey is tough. Making decisions about our careers and life partners are critical, and without good friends to journey with us, bounce our ideas off, or simply question what we are doing with our lives, we run the risk of making decisions based on how we feel at a particular moment in time, only to regret it later and find ourselves terribly off-course years down the road.
Identity your faithful friends and most honest mentors.
===
8. Who am I accountable to?
If you can’t be accountable to any one more senior than you, you run the risk of becoming a lone ranger, and cut off the river of wise counsel from your life. Being able to submit to authority is a key trait every person keen to serve locally or overseas must have.
===
9. Can I give up the things which mean most to me?
The other tough thing for me to do was packing my home in cardboard boxes and realizing how light I would have to travel. I remember staying awake in tears one night thinking of all the material things and people I would have to say farewell to.
With the perspective that what we have is only for temporary stewardship, we can let go and give up, just as how Jesus gave up for us, too.
===
10. Do I trust God?
We are a typical bunch- Singaporeans just have to have all the answers in the five-year plan ahead before making any decisions, don’t we? We have to weigh all the pros and cons meticulously. I only hope that our hesitancy to follow God doesn’t cause us to miss the window of opportunity and the wave of His Spirit to heed His call for our lives!
Trust God, He will show us the answers in due time, but only if we are willing to take the first step in faith.
I ended the last question of the evening with,
“Trust God. Sometimes, you just don’t have to have all the answers.”