Life is a Mission Field

I came across these thoughts this morning in my devotional time. I was extremely blessed by the reminder. This is definitely something I need to keep at the forefront of my mind as I think about what life is all about - and what should fill my day.

True education is missionary training. Every son and daughter of God is called to be a missionary; we are called to the service of God and our fellow men; and to fit us for this service should be the object of our eduction. . . .

Let the youth be impressed with the thought that they are not their own. They belong to Christ. They are the purchase of His blood, the claim of His love. They live because He keeps them by His power. Their time, their strength, their capabilities are His, to be developed, to be trained, to be used for Him. . .

God desires them to become all that He has made it possible for them to be, and to do their very best with the powers He has given them. . . .

He desires that we shall constantly be growing in holiness, in happiness, in usefulness. All have capabilities which they must be taught to regard as sacred endowments, to appreciate as the Lord's gifts, and rightly to employ. He desires the youth to cultivate every power of their being, and to bring every faculty into active exercise. He desires them to enjoy all that is useful and precious in this life, to be good and to do good, laying up a heavenly treasure for future life.

It should be their ambition to excel in all things that are unselfish, high, and noble. Let them look to Christ as the pattern after which they are to be fashioned. The holy ambition that He revealed in His life they are to cherish - an ambition to make the world better for their having lived in it. This is the work to which they are called. (Ellen White, Ministry of Healing, pp. 395-398)