By Wayne Braudrick
“The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach.” 2 Timothy 2:24 (HCSB)
Know yourself
While teaching on a scripture passage concerned with the Christian’s understanding of his position as the Lord’s slave, I was blessed to interview a young friend. Mandi Havens served for two years as a missionary to China, and I asked her to describe what she learned about herself on the mission field. She answered:
“I learned that I am a lot worse than I ever thought I was. When you are in a strange culture away from everything you have ever known, it puts a lot of stress on you. It sometimes forces you to slip into survival mode and you simply don’t have enough spare energy to put on the mask that makes it look like you have everything together. You can’t hide your fear or your bad temper anymore and it all slips out unbeckoned for the world to see. Fortunately, the Lord is faithful. I learned during my time overseas that my value is not earned. It doesn’t come from my effectiveness as a missionary, my competency as an employee, my fluency in Chinese, my innate “goodness” as a person, or my ability to be a good team member. It comes from God alone. It comes from my status as a daughter of the King of kings. I learned that I was more valuable that I could have ever imagined and I was not alone.”
Friends, I pray that we all know ourselves that well.
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