Your Home is a Mission Field
Andres and I have been married for two years now and a prayer for our family has been that our home would be an inviting place where others experience God's love for them as they spend time here - a place of true ministry. We want to live open-handedly with our things. Not just with our things, but with our entire home. This would mean inviting neighbors and others over for dinner around our table. This would mean one day having an extra bedroom to invite others to stay on weekends when they are in town. This would mean being open to having someone in need of housing live with us for an extended period of time.
Our true desire is to see our "stuff" not as OURS, but GOD'S. Living this way is not easy, as selfishness, pride and entitlement creep in. It's been fun and challenging to see our prayer come to fruition in different ways in the past two years. God has provided opportunities to say "yes" to inviting others in when, selfishly, I wanted to keep our space all to ourselves.
When I take my eyes off myself and remember the calling God has given us to love one another, my selfish preferences and worries become so much smaller and dwindle to non-existent. It is here that gratitude and contentment flood from a heart that knows, and lives, as though it is not entitled to the temporary things of this world. This is the joy that comes with walking alongside Jesus Christ in loving others in humility.
As Christians, God has invited us to be part of His beautiful story of redeeming the world to Himself. He has made us ambassadors of Christ to reflect Him and tell others about Him. What a privilege! This doesn't have to wait until we board a plane to Africa or volunteer for a local church outreach event, or even just walking out of our front door. We can begin by living missionally right inside our homes.
Could you consider preparing a space in your home for others to stay, and possibly even live, for a period of time?
Consider covering that space in prayer for God to encourage and minister to those who enter.
Would you ASK God to provide others to dwell in your home and even look and listen for opportunities to invite others in?
What about thinking of creative ways to welcome your guests, like having a gift card and note waiting on their pillow when they arrive to stay for the weekend?
Start with the heart - let us put aside insecurities about how our home looks or the discomfort of the idea of having others invade our personal space. We must remind ourselves that living missionally is not about us or how others see us. It's about Christ and simply being a shadow of his character in loving others and sharing the gospel.
As others walk in and out of your home and watch you and your family live missionally inside of your home, they will see Jesus. Others will experience and hear the gospel as they are welcomed and loved by you and your family. Your kids will be more generous people as they grow up in a home that welcomes others and gives of itself to outsiders.
Don't miss this -- Your home is a mission field.
May God grant us the eyes to see and ears to hear where God wants us to put ourselves aside and live missionally inside our homes to love others and share Christ with them.
Nicki Rodriguez lives the mission with her husband, Andres, in Houston, TX.
