Spaces

     Space. The final frontier. Just kidding, that's not the kind of space I'm talking about. Using the first two definitions of "space" found on dictionary.com, the "space" I'm talking about is: "the portion or extent of a three-dimensional realm or expanse in which material objects are located and events occur in a given instance." 

Our lives are made up of different expansions of space. Another word you could use for them are "circles". Many of us have our family space, our work space, our significant other space, and so on and so forth. I would estimate that each person has at least twenty different spaces that fill up their lives. All of these spaces involve people to a certain degree. 

     Let me tell you a story about how space is identified in the arts. Once upon a time, I took a dance class. We learned about four concepts that were called Line, Effort, Space, and Shape. One of our assignments was to choreograph a piece using those four concepts. The "space" concept was illustrating how much space your body did or did not take up within a room. For example, rolling up into a tight ball would take up less space than when doing a jump of some sort. It also depended upon how much space you used in the room. 

     As sinful human beings, our natural tendency is to curl up into a tight ball and not use up much of our space that has been given to us. We do not engage with the people that surround us, and we keep to ourselves as much as possible. We have our own agenda and that is all that matters to us. 

     Christians are supposed to be the most joyful of all people, for we have a hope that cannot be shaken. Shall we not dance and jump and spread the gospel to every part of every space that we inhabit? 

     What about the spaces that seem less important, possibly because they are so small or because we occupy them for so short a time? I tend to react to these spaces in the wrong way by thinking that it's not really that important to engage people if you're only going to know them for a couple weeks or maybe only a couple minutes. But in dance, every space is just as important as the others. In just a few square feet, a dancer can do something truly remarkable. Trust me, I haven't done it, but I've seen it. 

     What if we don't like the space that we've been put in? God is the one that apportions out where we are to live and who we are to interact with at what point in our lives, and so every space you have been given is according to His purpose. The preaching from last night contained the scripture passage from the book of Luke that was about Jesus healing a demon-possessed man. After being healed, the man wanted to follow Jesus in His journey, but Jesus told him to go back to his home and "declare how much God has done for you." (Luke 8:39). It goes on to say that rather than complaining about not getting to follow Jesus and do the more exciting and uplifting work, the man obeyed Jesus and went proclaiming throughout the whole city the name of his Lord and Savior.

     We are to be content with what spaces God places in our lives, and we are to use those spaces to their full extent. Just like the dancer, we can use all of our energy to spread the name of Christ throughout every last inch that we've been given, and seize the opportunities that come our way to share the gospel. 

     Very few individuals get to travel across the globe and influence thousands of people, but most of us have at least a few spaces to spread Christ's glorious story of what He has done for us. Let us use all of our space. The little spaces of our day-to-day lives are the mission's frontier.