Over the last day and a half it’s been an incredibly moving experience getting to hear people’s stories, especially the key note speakers and I was extremely excited to hear Francis Chan talk. I even made my friend Becca wait two hours early so we could be first in line into the stadium to get front row seats. It was certainly an adventure that showcased both my determination and how quickly I can fast walk at a safe pace to appease the gracious stadium workers, but I digress.
Francis Chan talked about Matthew’s call to discipleship. After hearing how Jesus calmed the seas, drove out demons, and healed a paralyzed man, Matthew got up and followed Jesus when Jesus’ issued a simple command: Follow Me.
He then talked about how Matthew didn’t just sit there and pray a prayer to follow Jesus in his heart or a promise to think about following him; he actually got up and followed Jesus. The idea he brought up is that we’ve talked our faith to death over studying scripture, which is good inherently but it means nothing if we don’t follow with action. What we truly need is simple obedience to God. His command itself isn’t that complicated, when Jesus says, “go,” he means to go.
This message was so important to me because it put into words that frustration that I’ve felt over the last few months. I love talking about the Lord and preaching his message to the unreached on my campus, but I need to put Jesus’ message into the social change that weighs heavily on my heart.
For me my faith in action is reaching women who are victims of human trafficking, women who are exploited, and women who are in the sex industry and bringing advocacy to people outside of these injustices. I’ve heard God tell me that this is where I need to be, but today I realized that it’s okay to put myself out there and find ways to move from my comfort of leading bible study to doing that while bringing advocacy into my college community.
I have no doubt that God is leading me on the mission field to serve these women directly, and I’ve been blessed at the exhibition center to find out more ways I can continue to gain knowledge in this scope. I am excited to see what other real world opportunities that there are for me.
God put this simple reminder on my heart today: I am made for this, I was made to seek and serve God’s kingdom.