Because 50 Day 23
Scripture Reading: Psalm 67
1May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Today’s Prayer:
Lord, show me how to be on mission and make me uncomfortable.
Going Deeper:
The psalm begins with a request? What is the request found in verse 1? Often when we think of the blessings of God, we think of it in terms of what it provides for us. However, the psalmist has a different end goal in mind. To the psalmist, what is the end that he envisions in verse 2? The rest of the psalm builds upon this picture of the nations glorifying God.
In the modern evangelical church, much is made of missions and rightfully so. We are called as followers of Jesus to share with others, near and far, about what God has done for us. However, pastor and theologian John Piper challenges the idea that missions is the ultimate goal of the church. He writes, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.” He goes on to say that the primary goal of missions is the “gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.”
If we are going to be extravagant worshippers in the modern world, we must keep missions within our focus, yet we must remember the ultimate goal of missions. The primary existence of missions is not so that we can feel good about ourselves. The primary purpose of mission trips is not to be reminded of how tied to our possessions we might be. The reason that we engage in missions is to help people far from God experience Jesus, to help them worship Him. We are blessed to be a blessing “so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.”
How are you engaging in missions? Have you recently been on a mission trip? If not, have you partnered with a person going on a trip? What are ways that you can support missions in your everyday life?