The famous Major League Baseball player from yesteryear, Yogi Berra, once said “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Pretty profound, huh? It seems obvious, too obvious. But we still miss the trees for the forest. Do you know where you are going? In Alice and Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat tells Alice that if “you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” It is important for us to know the destination before we start the journey. If we don’t know where we are going, how will we know it when we get there?
If we have a clear picture of where we want to be it will increase the chances that we will take the necessary actions to get there. Having a personal mission is like having a GPS for your life and ministry.
Jesus had a clear mission statement. We can see part of this mission in Luke 4:18. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
In John’s gospel, Jesus repeatedly shares how He was sent for a specific purpose. Effective leaders will be clear about their God-given mission. There is great value for you in writing down your own mission or purpose statement. It will help you to clarify your roles and goals in life, your values and the principles by which you operate for God. A mission statement takes the “drift” out of your personal Christian life. Mission drift is real and happens to organizations, ministries, countries, and individuals. Think of the YMCA who began as an organization to make disciples of young Christian men. Harvard or Yale, that began as education institutions to train men for the ministry of the church. Having a clear mission that you review regularly to keep you on track helps prevent mission drift.
No one wants to get to a point later in their life, having made it all the way up the ladder, just to realize their ladder was against the wrong wall. Those that have a mission statement, review it regularly and make decisions by it, are truly leading their own life. If your mission is rooted in God, following your mission allows Him to lead. Those without a clear mission will drift from place to place, living a life that is reactionary, bound to the whims and desires of those around them.
I used to get a little annoyed or think it was a waste of time when people started talking about their mission or vision. I thought to myself, “now that’s cute, let me get back to the real stuff, practical stuff, stuff that needs to be done.” I am more of a concrete thinker than an abstract thinker. I am more inclined to work with my hands on that which is right in front of me. Over time, through teaching, mentoring, and coaching I have come to really value living on mission. I now realize that if my mission is not clear of where I am headed, how can I be sure of what I am doing at the moment.
