3 Ways To Keep From Mission Drifting…

It is easy to get off course and mission drift if we don’t feed our mission daily. Have you ever noticed that whatever you look at when you are driving a car is where you steer towards? I am notorious for this phenomenon. When I fix my eyes on something other than the road ahead I always start to drift toward it. Thankfully my lovely wife quickly reminds me as she blurts out, “John!!!” I now know that is the universal word for…LOOK OUT!!!

Life is a journey, and when we take our eyes off the mission we will drift. We have to keep our “mission blinders” on so to speak. We can’t allow distractions to lure us in. Remember the Sirens in Homer’s classic book, “The Odyssey” These women would lure in the travelers on their journey with music and enchantment. However, as the sailors would get entranced by these beautiful women they would shipwreck on the rocky coast of the Siren’s island. We must keep our eyes on the prize and press on in our mission or we will become like these sailors who mission drifted.

Proverbs 4:25-27

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to thepaths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

I think King Solomon knew his mission when he wrote this Proverb. He was warning us about the dangers of mission drift. My brother-in-law and I remember sitting in an inner-tube in the ocean down in Florida one summer vacation. We were enjoying our time just taking it easy as we floated around. After a while of floating we eventually looked back to shore to see what everyone else was doing. I scanned the beach but our campsite and everyone was gone. I panicked thinking they left us, or that something had happened to them. As we looked down the beach we spotted them way off in the distance. I wondered why they had moved our camp so far down the beach but quickly realized they didn’t move the campsite, we had moved from the campsite. We drifted half-way down the beach without knowing it, a long ways away from where we started. We had no idea the waves were drifting us down the ocean. We too can get lazy and lose our focus in life. We must be intentional about staying on point.

How do you stay mission minded? Let me give you the A, B, C’s of minding your mission…

1. Accept your mission

Remember the famous line in Mission Impossible?

“This is your mission if you choose to accept it.”

We have to accept our mission when God gives it to us. Wether that mission is a short term investment of our time or a long-term journey, we have to accept it and not fight it. Jonah ran from his mission when God told him to go to Nineveh, he didn’t accept it. He could have just accepted the task and got going, but rather he made it so much harder than it had to be by fighting against his mission. Accept the gifts and talents God has given you and go after the mission He has put in your heart. We can’t be waiting for something new from God when we haven’t fulfilled what He has already given us.

2. Believe in your mission

People may not believe in your mission, but you have to believe in your mission. You will never fully step out unless you believe in what you do. Always make your “why” bigger than your “why” not. Here are some belief statements for your WHY.

~ When your WHY is bigger then your WHY NOT nothing will knock you off course.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT you know your mission every day.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT others are inspired.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT you create the discipline to follow through.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT courage follows.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT you are willing to endure hardships.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT you produce results.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT there is power to change things.

~ When your WHY is bigger than your WHY NOT you take responsibility for the outcome.

3. Complete your mission

We have to stay the course and fight the good fight in order to see the mission till completion. When we keep the faith and keep our eyes on the target we will cross the finish line of our mission at some point. The “when” is not as important as the “will to.” We have to keep the perseverance to continue on even when it gets rough…and it will get rough at times.

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

We have to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that holds us back in fulfilling our mission. We run with all that is within us keeping our eyes straight ahead on the mission that God has put in our heart. Whenever we begin to grow weary and lose heart in our mission the Apostle Paul reminds us to consider Him, Christ, who endured opposition as well…but finished His course on earth. When we consider Christ who gave it all for His mission, we will begin to gain strength in His strength. God will complete the mission in us as we are faithful to endure the mission.