I get the question often ‘why do you do this’? People from
home ask why I would leave a good job and comfortable life in the US to pay
money to work and live in a cramped cabin on a ship with 400 other people.
People from this country ask me why I would give up my life at home to travel
across the world to provide surgeries for people I don’t even know and who
could never repay.
This question would probably have a different answer for
every person serving with Mercy Ships. Some people would say they serve to help
others and make a difference in the world. Others would say they love to travel
and see the world. And maybe others would say it makes them feel better about
themselves or it’s their duty to help the poor. The easy and quick answer I
generally tell people is that God has shown me throughout my life the need for
physical and spiritual healing that exists in the world and once you see the
need, it’s impossible to ignore. The deeper answer is a little more complicated…
As I was reading my devotional this morning, I began to
think about this in a whole new way. The verse today was Ephesians 5:2 which
says, “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a slain
offering and sacrifice to God, a sweet fragrance”. I’d imagine you are similar
to me in that when you think about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, you consider
it a cruel punishment that would cause pain to His Father to watch. None of us
want to imagine watching our own child go through that kind of suffering. But
as the author said in this devotional, have you ever noticed the next phrase “a
sweet fragrance”? Not only was the cross an offering and sacrifice, it was a
sweet fragrance to God! I can’t say it any better with my own words so I’m just
going to quote this next part…”Such is the incredible depth of God’s love
for us that he would count the atrocities committed against his Son as a sweet
fragrance. Such is the enormity of God’s desire for restored relationship
with us that he would look upon the death of his Son with favorable
remembrance.” (Craig Denison)
The point of the study was to remind Christians that God
loved us enough to sacrifice His son and He considers us worthy of relationship
with Him, whatever the cost. But I took a different message away from these
lines. Don’t read into this too much; I never want to compare what I am doing
to the huge sacrifice of Jesus. But it did make think of a new answer to the
question of “Why”. Why would you ‘give your life as an offering’ and ‘sacrifice
so much’? The answer: because I want my life to be a sweet fragrance to God.
God longs for a relationship with the people of Benin as
much as He longs for a relationship with the people of the US and Canada and
the UK and China. He already gave His son to give them eternal life, but He
cares about their present life as well. And He has chosen to use this motley
crew of volunteers from around the world to give them a better, longer, more
productive life through the free surgeries, medical care, and education we
provide. Along the way, the hope is that they will also feel the love of Jesus
and gain a closer relationship with the Father through what they see and
experience here.
If my identity is truly based in the depth of God’s love for
me, it’s all I can do to give my life back to God as a ‘sweet fragrance’ – in
whatever way He wants to use it, no matter what the sacrifice.
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