Seeing the Faces of Missions
by Larry Leming, MMD

Crowds of people……everywhere we go, there seems to be crowds of people.   At the mall, there were crowds.   When the new year began, there were huge crowds all over the world. Walking down the streets of our towns and communities, there are crowds. And in those crowds of people are the faces of missions.   Faces that are hurting, hiding and hoping…..hoping that someone will look beyond the sea of people and into their unique face….the face of missions.

As 2010 has gotten underway, I find myself and those around me already “busy” with the good things of a new year.   Whether preparing for the next meeting or planning for the next event or working with volunteers for the next mission trip, we are busy. The challenge, however, is that in the day to day details of kingdom work, we must never find ourselves moving so fast that we walk right through the crowds and miss the individual faces that so deeply need to know they are loved.    Indeed, they are loved by a heavenly father that values them above all creation.   John 3:16 tells us that He loved us so much that He gave His only son to become the sacrifice for our sins and the way to everlasting life with Him. They need to know this.

How do we do this?   How do we take the time to look into the crowd instead of looking beyond it? I believe that Jesus set the example that will answer this question for us. Matthew 9:36 states “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”   The key word in this passage is compassion…..He looked on them with compassion.   Webster’s dictionary defines compassion as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it”.  Simply put, He saw their needs and desired to make their lives better. He did this for them by showing them a better way, by loving them and serving them. When we decide to see the crowds through His eyes, rather than our limited earthly vision, we too will be able to show the compassion that can reach into a crowd and touch an individual life. We will see their needs and have a God placed desire to make a difference. We too will want to love them, serve them and introduce them to Jesus!!!!

2010 is here, my friends, and life is underway. Today as you look out your window, drive down the highway, walk down the street or sit and watch the crowd from a bench, don’t allow yourselves to miss the individual faces that make up the crowds around you. Pray and ask God for His eyes of compassion and His heart of service. Then find that face in the crowd that He is leading you to; that face of missions.   And as we serve each other, never forget, that for most, if not all of us, at one time or another, we were the face in the crowd, praying for someone to see us!!!!   God bless you as we serve together!!!

Larry