Following God often requires radical obedience, casting aside our plans and wishes for the gospel to spread. Sometimes, that radical obedience leads us to share the gospel with our neighbors, and other times, it leads us to move overseas to bring the gospel to the nations.
Regardless of what God calls us to do, Scripture promises that life in Christ will be costly. It’s something missionary Charlotte (Lottie) Moon learned firsthand when she followed God’s call to share the gospel in China. But her legacy also shows how God gives fruit when we live in and for Christ.
A Challenge to Leave Your Life Behind
When we become followers of Christ, God calls us to lose our lives for Christ’s sake, offering our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). Sometimes leaving your life behind means physically leaving where you live to go where God has called you. That’s what Lottie did when she left her home in Virginia to be a missionary in China. Other times, it means leaving behind worldly desires and loves, like when Lottie turned down a marriage proposal and left her job to be a missionary.
Holding onto things, circumstances, and people can inhibit us from living in full obedience to the Lord. It is with open hands and a willing spirit that we are then able to step into what God has called us to. And then, God equips us to do his work.
A Challenge to Trust God Amidst Hardships
Because of Lottie’s confidence and trust in the Lord, she had a firm foundation amidst the hardships that came with life as a missionary. In a letter, Lottie wrote,
“Please say to the new missionaries that they are coming to a life of hardship, responsibility, and constant self-denial. They must live, the greater part of the time, in Chinese houses, in close contact with the people. They will be alone in the interior and will need to be strong and courageous. If the joy of the Lord be their strength, the blessedness of the work will more than compensate for its hardships”
Please say to the new missionaries that they are coming to a life of hardship, responsibility, and constant self-denial.
The missionary life is still a worthy calling, but it’s also still costly. Believers face persecution, cultural differences, a longing for home and familiarity, and an opposition to gospel conversations. There will be seasons with no visible fruit, requiring you to wait and trust God that you are not working in vain for the Kingdom. There will be times when you are weary and drained, and the only thing you can do is lean on the strength and joy of the Lord, resting in his presence.
Despite the challenges, God is always faithful (Deuteronomy 7:9). For 39 years, Lottie lived and served in China, teaching in a girls’ school and making trips throughout the country to share the gospel. She visited thousands of homes to share the gospel and was a leader in her church. In a country with a few Christians, Lottie made and equipped new Chinese disciples of Christ. Because of her faithful work and trust in the Lord, many were able to experience the grace and mercy only found in Jesus.
A Challenge to Support the Spread of the Gospel
There’s a reason why an annual international missions offering—the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering—is named after Lottie. While she was in China, Lottie sent letters back home challenging believers to go to China, to pray for missionaries, and to give generously so that others could go. In a letter, Lottie wrote,
“I wonder how many of us really believe that ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’? A woman who accepts that statement of our Lord Jesus Christ as a fact, and not as impractical idealism, will make giving a principle of her life. She will lay aside sacredly not less than one-tenth of her income or her earnings as the Lord’s money…because Jesus paid it all, they need pay nothing, forgetting that the prime object of their salvation was that they should follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back a lost world to God, and so aid in bringing the answer to the petition our Lord taught his disciples: Thy kingdom come.”
Not every believer is called to go overseas, but every believer is called to play a part in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). We are all called to steward our time, resources, and talents for the Kingdom. This can look like giving financially to support global mission work, praying for missionaries and the unreached in the places they are serving in, visiting and encouraging missionaries overseas, and spreading the gospel in our neighborhoods.
Regardless of what our part may look like, when we have been radically changed and redeemed by the mercy of Christ, then we will inevitably want others to know about the hope we have in Jesus, just like Lottie.
Selah Lipsey is a Content Writer at Radical. She is a graduate of Samford University where she studied Journalism and Spanish. Selah and her husband Jeremy are members of Redeemer Community Church.
