"Living out your Faith on the Frontlines" by Byron Alexander

I love the summer months! The temperatures are warm, the gardens are producing fresh produce, and you can get outdoors to explore places you've been waiting to see without the threat of being frozen to death. For me, summer makes all the difference. It provides the lift I need after a long, cold winter.

Summer has also typically been the season when I schedule a mission trip to another country. My love for missions comes from my two uncles, who were both missionaries. One served in the remote mountain communities of North Carolina, while the other served in the Philippines. There is something about going into another community or culture and being the hands and feet of Jesus that reminds me what it truly means to be a Christian and the part I play in helping spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sharing the Gospel and our faith with people who may not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can be exhausting. It often seems that for every ten people willing to listen, nine will turn away. We grow weary and just want to retreat to our recliner and be left alone.

But if we are serious about living the Christian life, we are called to live on the front lines for Jesus Christ. (Read John 17:6–19.)

"Some want to live within the sound
of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop
within a yard of hell."

These words are attributed to Charles Thomas Studd (C.T. Studd), a Cambridge graduate, professional cricketer, and missionary to China. He was also one of the original contributors to The Fundamentals, a series of essays that helped define evangelicalism in the early twentieth century.

C.T. Studd is also known for his poem, Only One Life, which includes these familiar words:

Only one life—'twill soon be past;
Only what's done for Christ will last.

Those words capture the attitude Christ calls His followers to embrace. Life is a mission, and our place is on the front lines.

May we always put Christ above all.