WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD...mission statements

WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD is a post devoted each Wednesday to share my thoughts on a current study that I am doing. This week I
studied purpose, more specifically the purpose and mission of Jesus Christ. I love to hear your comments about this study...

I love technology today, if I am preparing to go on a trip, all I have to do is get out our atlas or go to the computer and map quest for my directions. It is so easy to find directions to get me to my final destination.

When I am looking for directions in my life though, it is much more complicated. All around us, we can find different directions pulling at us ... different religions and philosophies, astrology, talk show hosts, etc. If we listened to any of it or all of it, no doubt we would be handed a different "road map" for life from each one of them.

The looking for direction is not where we go wrong. In fact, even Jesus set out to be intentional about finding His direction. For example: didn't He go into the wilderness for 40 days to wrestle with the Devil and to seek God's guidance? Jesus found His guidance and in fact returned to His hometown, the town of Nazareth to tell people that God had given Him His mission:

LUKE 4:16-19 "He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. (17) The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written: (18) The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, (19) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

It is not the looking that trips us up, our final destination will depend upon where we are looking!

Jesus looked to His Father for the leading. He had a mission and He set out to complete the mission laid before Him. Alot of businesses will write out a mission statement for their employees, usually these mission statements provide purpose, inspiration and motivation for their staff. Look at these mission statements that I found:

WAL-MART: to give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people.
WALT DISNEY: to make people happy.
MARY KAY COSMETICS: to give unlimited opportunity to women.

While many companies mean well when they issue a mission statement, many fall short of fulfilling their original purpose. Jesus, on the other hand, lived (and died) His mission statement:

JESUS CHRIST: to preach the good news to the poor; offer freedom to those bound and oppressed and to proclaim to all the hope of the Lord.

When Jesus returned to Nazareth, he did not need to map quest the trip. He went with a clear purpose and mission. How about you...when you return to your hometown, what is your purpose?

In last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I asked the readers "What would you look forward to when visiting your town that you grew up in?" The top 3 responses were:

1. 20% of the responses said that they would like to see their old home.
2. Another 20% voted and said that they would like to see all of the changes in the town.
3. 20% of other readers, voted and said that they have no desire to even go back to their hometown.

Returning home can be fun, but yet, for others it brings back nothing but bad memories and thoughts. That is obvious when I see this weeks poll and that 20% of the readers have no desire to re-visit their growing up home place.

I know people who have remained in a mind set of "what could have been". For those that still live in the past and wish things were different, I wonder if they have set in place a personal mission statement? You know... a mission statement that would outline the goals, the aspirations, and the changes that they would like to see in their relationships and spiritual growth.

All of us need to find ways of seeing ourselves, what our strengths and weaknesses are, and what we are called to do. Jesus saw these things, and He helped others to see them as well.

What are you doing to fulfill your mission?

Do you have a personal mission statement?

Dear Lord...thank you for giving me the tools that I need to find direction in my life. Open my heart and my eyes to see the road that you are drawing me down. It is my desire to have a purpose in my living and that others around me will see the mission that I am pursuing. May all the twists and turns of life lead others to You. AMEN

YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL... please take time to vote in this weeks poll. Are you discouraged? Your opinion really does matter ~ find the poll on the side bar of the blog. :)