Young Men Wanted, A Missions Call for the Unmarried
So, what is to be done? How do we counteract this stew of distraction, overprotection, and male malaise? Let me suggest three antidotes.
Remedy 1: Go all in.
I dislike the company of Christians who don’t cheer hard at sporting events, who stifle their laughter at a good joke, and who generally operate at half-speed. We, of all people, should press in on life and seize it by the neck no matter what God gives us. We don’t belong to the timid tribe that shrinks back and is destroyed but to those who believe and are saved (Hebrews 10:39). Our hope is in the world to come, and so we press into this life, knowing that this is not where our home or treasure is.
Young men who have a vision for the world to come live differently. They walk surer, smile more, read better, enjoy church more deeply. They have more time for those who need them; they worry less about looks and more about heart; they are all in on whatever they are doing. If there is one thing I would wish for every young man, it is that he would have a Christ-follower in his life he respects, one who presses him to go hard after what he knows to be good and true.
Young Christian man, become known as someone who runs hard at life, especially at the things of eternity. This will bode well for you in ventures foreign and domestic. Most importantly, you will stand with no shame on that great day.
Remedy 2: Read great stories; attempt great stories.
The older I get, the more I am convinced that the most powerful weapon for giving young people a heart for missions is biography. Read books such as The Autobiography of John G. Paton, A Chance to Die, God Planted Five Seeds, Lords of the Earth, To the Golden Shore, and The Diary of David Brainerd. If parents and pastors would read and recommend missionary biographies to young men, how many might catch a heart for missions?
And note this about missionary biographies: The good ones don’t gloss over the warts of the missionary, and they highlight the grace of God in each season. Young Christian men who read these stories can see themselves in them and can aspire to great things — not because of who they are now, or even who they may become, but because our unchanging God will be with them, just as he was with Adoniram Judson, Nate Saint, and George Liele. Common men, ordinary men, young men can do incredible things when they trust an all-powerful God. In the words of William Carey, expect great things; attempt great things!
Remedy 3: Find what’s worth dying for.
Finding something worth living for is somewhat easy; finding something worth dying for is much harder. When I was old enough to understand, my father told me the story of my grandfather enlisting in the U.S. Navy on December 8, 1941. The prospects of living through the next four years were dim for him, but the call to arms was so stirring that men en masse enlisted in the military. So powerful was the call to arms that some men who were found unfit to enlist committed suicide.
Young Christian man, a war is raging for the eternal souls of men. The front where this war is fought most ferociously often lies in other lands and other languages. The world was liberated from the Nazis in my grandfather’s time; the war for liberation from sin, Satan, and hell still rages on. Entire language groups know nothing of God’s grace in the person of Jesus Christ.
The God of the ages summons you to this fight. Your life is a vapor. What will you do with the days you have been given? Come fight for the King — not with guns but with words. By teaching the word of God, strongholds that have existed for centuries are pulled down, worldviews that trap men in pain and death are destroyed, and freedom is granted to the captives. But you find the desire for this fight only when you are willing to lay down your life for something great, something lasting, someone worth dying for.
Heed the call of J.C. Ryle: “Young men of the present day, you are wanted for God… . A wide field of usefulness is open before you, if you are only willing to enter upon it. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few (Luke 10:2). Be zealous of good works. Come, come to the cause of the Lord against the mighty” (Thoughts for Young Men, 73).
Young man, give up small dreams and come fight for the cause of the King. You will never regret it.