Recently, I was listening to the CD People Need the Lord by Steve Green, and the song The Mission began to play. It has been a long time since I had listened to this CD, so I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. I love the words to The Mission, and thought I would share them with you:
"There's a call going out across the land in every nation
A call to all who swear allegiance to the cross of Christ.*
A call to true humility, to live our lives responsibly,
To deepen our devotion to the cross at any price.
"Let us then be sober moving only in the Spirit,
As aliens and strangers in a hostile foreign land.
The message we're proclaiming is repentance and forgiveness.
The offer of salvation to the dying race of man.
(chorus)
"To love the Lord our God Is the heartbeat of our mission,
The spring from which our service overflows.
Across the street or around the world,
The mission's still the same:
Proclaim and live the truth in Jesus' name.
"As a candle is consumed by the passion of the flame,
Spilling light unsparingly throughout a darkened room,
Let us burn to know Him deeper, then our service flaming bright,
Will radiate His passions and blaze with holy light."
~ Written by Jon Mohr and Randall Dennis
*I put in all of the punctuation in order to facilitate reading it.
As I listened to these words being sung, I almost got goosebumps from the challenging they presented! The author of this song doesn't beat around the bush as to who this "call" is for: this call is for "all who swear allegiance to the cross of Christ"! Very staightforward and right to the point, isn't it? This not just for anyone. However, on the other hand, it also isn't just for those who are called to be a pastor or a missionary or any other full-time Christian service; no, this is for all who claim to follow the cross and claim the One Who died on it to be their Savior! If you and I hold to the message of the Cross, this call is for you and me!
The mental picture that the final stanza depicts gives a new angle as to how I am to live my Christian life: am I so passionate about God that my life is literally consumed by it? Does my whole life revolve around my love and passion for Him? Do I unashamedly spill my light in the midst of this world darkened by the shadow of sin? Am I deliberate about this, or is it simply by chance that my light is ever even seen by the world?
As you can see, this song is packed with meaning. How have you responded to this call that God gives to every believer?
