Not long ago someone said they wanted to meet with me for a “purpose driven cup of coffee.” Who would deny such a request. Although a cup of coffee has its own pleasures and merits, when you add a purpose to it, the idea becomes compelling. Of course I had no idea what that purpose was, but it was clear there was directionality and some value to this that would bring greater fulfillment. Purpose and mission tend to do that – they give value, directionality, and meaning.
In similar fashion living the holy life brings a sense of mission as the nature of God is imparted in greater measure to our lives. God’s engagement with us is motivated by love. Not a responsive love because we are so loveable, but a motivating love that emanates from God’s own nature. God’s nature overflows with love for us and that overflow is manifest in acts that are designed to restore us in wholeness.
Most visibly, that motivating love takes the form of engaging us in a manner that we can understand. It is relevant; incarnational; meaningful. Jesus is the manifestation of that relevant engagement which clearly shows God’s love.
So those who walk in the way of holiness – who increasingly reflect God’s holy nature, who surrender to a greater measure of God’s own nature being seen in them – these people will likewise be shaped by missional living. They too will be motivated by a selfless love causing them to initiate engagement with people in ways that are relevant, understandable and clearly show God’s love.
Missional living — purposeful living, is much more than pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and committing to a task and strategy. It is a life so saturated by the nature of God that God’s own love motivates a relevant and meaningful engagement with others at their point of need such that they will be drawn to the God who imprinted them in the first place.
Blessings as you live a missional life,
Kevin