Mission Impossible? Not With God!

Secret agents and spy thrillers are nothing compared to the impossible mission God has given us. But He’s also giving us everything we need to beat the odds.

After watching the most recent Mission: Impossible movie, with its pulse-pounding action, narrow escapes and down-to-the-wire saving of the day, I was left on the edge of my seat waiting for more!

And then I realized …

I’m already part of a mission that is 10 times more exciting than any movie! You and I are called to be very special agents in a very real battle of good and evil. (Cue the Mission: Impossible theme music here!)

Our mission

Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is multifaceted. It requires us to look both outward and inward.

The first part of our mission is laid out very clearly for us in Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15. We are to preach the gospel in all the world as a witness before Christ’s return. This aspect requires us to look outward, to those around us, and share with them the wonderful news that God has shared with us.

There are several ways we can accomplish our mission—or, rather, God’s mission that He has given us to carry out with His help. The way that usually comes to mind first is the actual preaching of the gospel through our Church organization. Via the Internet, various publications, videos and audio, we are working to spread the word of Christ’s imminent return. We support this effort through our tithes and offerings, and sometimes we have the privilege to be directly involved—like writing blogs!

Representatives of God

Another way we accomplish this part of our mission is by being representatives of God in our daily lives. We are to reflect His light (Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15). We are to live our lives in such a way that those around us will recognize—whether at this time or later—that we are God’s children and that they can be too (1 Peter 2:11-12).

We may not feel like we are “preaching” by doing this, but we are definitely being witnesses to those around us. We want to make sure that we are representing God in the best way possible!

Preparing for God’s Kingdom

Another aspect of our mission involves preparing ourselves to be part of God’s family. This is where we look inward. God requires us to change, to constantly become more and more like Him (Matthew 5:48).

Again, we cannot accomplish this part of our mission without God’s help! We have to examine ourselves every day and compare ourselves not with each other, but with our perfect older Brother, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 10:12).

Our mission would be easy if all we had to do was just be a little better than our neighbor! But that’s not what God wants of us. Thankfully, He gives us help and strength to accomplish our mission through His power, the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:7).

Winning the battle

However, while we are trying to accomplish our mission, we are constantly being attacked by an enemy force that does not want us to succeed! We fight against these evil agents every day (Ephesians 6:10-13). This is not a battle we can win on our own—not in a thousand years! But, if we continue reading in Ephesians 6, God tells us how to put on His armor, so that we can stand against the evil forces in that daily battle.

And when the battle is won? (I’ll give away the ending here—the good guys do win! See 1 Corinthians 15:25-27 and Revelation 21:4.) When the battle is won—when the archenemy Satan is put away forever—God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and all of God’s children can say, “Mission accomplished!”

For more about God’s wonderful Kingdom, see the “Kingdom of God” section on our new public proclamation website LifeHopeandTruth.com.

Sara Hawk and her husband of 20 years, Brian, live in Shreve, Ohio, and attend the Akron/Canton, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.