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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WEDNESDAY 12/18/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus

WEDNESDAY 12/18/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus


THE CHRISTMAS MODEL 
FOR MISSIONS
“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them 
into the world.” —John 17:18



Christmas is a model for missions. Missions is a mirror of 

Christmas. As I, so you. 

For example, danger. Christ came to his own and 
his own received him not. So you. They plotted against 
him. So you. He had no permanent home. So you. They 
trumped up false charges against him. So you. They 
whipped and mocked him. So you. He died after three 
years of ministry. So you. 

But there is a worse danger than any of these which 

Jesus escaped. So you! 

In the mid-16th century Francis Xavier (1506–1552), a 
Catholic missionary, wrote to Father Perez of Malacca 

December 1838 Good News of Great Joy Daily Readings for Advent 

(today part of Indonesia) about the perils of his mission to 

China. He said,



The danger of all dangers would be to lose trust and 



confidence in the mercy of God… To distrust him 



would be a far more terrible thing than any physical 



evil which all the enemies of God put together could 



inflict on us, for without God’s permission neither 



the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us 



in the slightest degree. 














The greatest danger a missionary faces is to distrust the 










mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other 











dangers lose their sting. 

God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. 










Alexander says, “Each instant of present labor is to be gra




ciously repaid with a million ages of glory.”









Christ escaped the danger of distrust. Therefore God 


















has highly exalted him! 

















Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model for 





































missions. As I, so you. And that mission means danger. 






































And that the greatest danger is distrusting God’s mercy. 






































Succumb to this, and all is lost. Conquer here, and noth



















ing can harm you for a million ages. 





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