Listen and tell

Some years ago I adopted a phrase to declare my primary reason for living: "My mission is to be a messenger of God’s truth and of His love." While I pray this mission will affect all areas of my life, I am uniquely privileged to work for an organization that exists to perform a very similar mandate.

As a Christian publishing agency, we are in the business of sending out messages. We can do that in many ways (newspapers, magazines, the Internet) and there are certainly many messages to deliver (news, analysis, opinion, reviews, images). It’s important for us to realize that every element of what we do ought to point to the deeper reality that God is an interested and active participant in the affairs of our world.

Just as I want my personal life and witness to serve the larger cause of developing Christian disciples, our publishing activity should inform, encourage and inspire God’s people so that His truth and love are better understood and heeded.

Being a messenger is both easy and hard. There is something very liberating of being the carrier, not the originator, of a message. The actual content of the message is someone else’s responsibility; they can have the credit or the blame. That’s the easy part.

But the messenger is responsible to get the message right and deliver it straight. That can be difficult. It’s especially tempting to dilute the strength of a message when one knows it’s not likely to be well-received. Being a faithful messenger requires listening carefully to the right sources, and this is where I learn a lot from pastors. Listening to people who listen to God helps this messenger tune into the right message.

One helpful guide in the process of listening prayer is Abbotsford, B.C. pastor Brad Jersak, author of Can You Hear Me? (Victoria, BC: Trafford Press, 2003; www.bradjersak.com). You can read the first installment of his "Hearing God" column series on page 13 of this edition of ChristianWeek.

The ultimate messenger, of course, was Jesus Christ who faithfully delivered a hard message with absolute integrity and accuracy. It’s His example we seek to emulate. Brad’s column promises to help us tune in to the good news from its primary source.