The true meaning of missions

By Karla Gonzalez, Go Now missionary and student at Tarrant County College

When we talk about doing missions, surely many of us think of going somewhere far from home, preaching the Gospel to a lot of people or having a place with a big crowd surrounding us and telling them about Jesus.

If that has never crossed your mind, it has at least crossed mine, until a few weeks ago. I had that idea about missions until I realized that it is not like that. I couldn’t understand how God was going to use me in Spain if I wasn’t able to talk about God with the children, or sweep the floor in the mornings, or wash a pile of dishes, or how I would reach souls if I did not preach about the Gospel.

I thought, “I don’t think I'm doing missions, I'm sure I'm in the wrong place. I’m not contributing at all to the Kingdom of God." But, how can we be missionaries if we do not understand the meaning of missions?

God has made me understand that missions is not only a verb, but an adjective. Missions is not only what we do, it is who we are in Jesus Christ. It is to show the love of God in everything we do, no matter if we feel or think we are not making a big impact around us. Because surely God is working something big when you do not even realize.

God is love, and therefore when we do things under His authority, everything we do will be done with love and humility. God is never wrong when He put us in the place where we are. He wants to use us where we are, and He wants us to shine that light that He has given us.