Mission in the mundane

“A Christian’s response to God is never trivial.” -Kevin Wilson

This was the takeaway from our church’s sermon this past week. It really stirred in my heart some thoughts on life and mission and God’s work in the world. When living in Africa, it often seemed like I was doing something, even if I was just answering my door to needy neighbors, or rocking an orphan baby. I often felt overwhelmed at the thought that I was very rarely “off the radar” while we lived there, but at the same time, it gave me a sense of purpose, if even in my own head.

Sometimes my days in America can seem quite mundane. We’re home a lot, and we don’t have anyone except the amazon guy coming to the door most of the time. My kids get bogged down by “just doing school” every day. Does it all matter?

But if we take this notion of our response to God never being trivial, then we also would deduce that nothing we do, even in our own homes, when we may be so called “off the radar,” does not matter. Recently, I heard someone in our homeschool co-op urging her students to consider how they live with virtue every day. Do they pray for their parents and siblings? Do they consider how they bless the people in their home? Do they discern what media they consume based on what God would want them to take into their minds and hearts? I thought this was so wise. I could consider it in my own life too. Am I moving about through my days thinking most of what I do or say doesn’t really matter? Do I think my faithfulness to God only matters in the bigger things, like serving him on a mission trip across the world?

It can be overwhelming to think about all the needs in the world, and how God wants me to respond to him when my day to day tasks take up a lot of my time. I can’t do it all. I can’t fix all the hurt, or even make a dent really. Maybe it is actually not about my work for God, but it’s about His work that is always going on, whether in my home or across the world. To contemplate what it means to be faithful and obedient to the Lord in my life is what is really important, moment by moment. I can often think I might know how someone else can be faithful and obedient, but do I really remember that that is not my job? Though I believe I can be brutally honest with the Lord about my desires for those I love, it is for them to discern how God is leading them and what they need to do to obey Him.

So how am I responding to God? When I’m reminded about his sovereignty and the way he will always work things together for good for those who love him and are called to him, I can respond by really, really trusting him. I can trust him with my day to day. I can trust him with my kids and their decisions. I can trust him in the now and in the not yet. He is working in the mundane, he is working. And He is good, all the time.