Suppose you are fishing in a pond that you have been fishing at your whole life. And as the older you get more people show up to fish the pond. It just keeps growing and growing and finally gets to the point where there are so many people fishing it that everyone is crossing each other’s lines and getting all tangled up. Everyone is fighting about stupid things, and then someone comes up with a new lure and catches a fish with it so now everyone has to find that same lure to try to catch as many fish as they can with it. After a while you start to ask yourself, “What am I even doing here?” Then you come to hear of another pond that is about a 5 mile hike away, and it’s just full of fish. Not only that, but the fish are biting like crazy and all you have to do is throw a hook in there and be willing to walk the 5 miles to get to the pond. Would you not make that 5 mile hike if you love fishing?
Recently I’ve been listening to the song Christ be Magnified by Cody Carnes quite a bit. When I’m working out, doing homework, or driving I always have to play it at least once. The lyrics of the song are just so captivating and perfectly explain my purpose for purely existing: to magnify Christ. The lyrics to the chorus go like this:
Oh, Christ be magnified,
Let His praise arise,
Christ be magnified,
In me,
Oh, Christ be magnified,
Let His praise arise,
Christ be magnified,
In me
When screaming these lyrics at the top of my lungs with my hands off of my steering wheel driving 80mph down the highway (don’t try that at home!), I love to really sit in the lyrics. What does it really mean to magnify Christ in me? I think it means to try to live in such a way that shows how valuable He is, or to live in a way that shows the supreme greatness and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. To live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as Paul tends to put it. Paul tells us in Philippians 1:27 that the way to live a life worthy of the gospel is to “stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” So then I must come to ask myself; am I doing that? Am I doing life with people who are different than me? Am I standing firm in one spirit with my brothers and sisters that don’t look the same as me or live in the same conditions as me? Am I doing community with the entire body of Christ, or just with those who are similar to me?
I don’t only want to, but need to magnify Christ in all of me. Can I magnify Christ while I’m in college? Yes, absolutely. But can’t I do more? What is holding me back from going to the pond that is just a 5 mile hike away? Absolutely nothing. I have such a deep longing from the depths of my soul for people that do not know Jesus. For the people that do not know that they have a Father in heaven that is with them in their darkest of circumstances. For the people that wonder why they are even here on this planet because they don’t know that they are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God for His purpose. Who am I to have the privilege of being born into a Christian family and not go tell others of the God that so graciously saved me? The idea that there are people in this world that do not know the name of Jesus at all terrifies me. I am willing to go find these people and take the “5 mile hike” for the sake of the gospel.
Thus, I am going to Africa in January of 2022 for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Making the decision to go to Africa instead of my second semester of college was no question, as I asked myself, “How could I not go?” It is so clear that God has placed me on this trip for His ultimate plan and purpose, so who am I to say no to Him? It is my prayer that God would use the 3 months that I, and the rest of the team I am going with, are in Africa to just spread the love of Christ to everyone we encounter. This is not some great thing that I am doing or some amazing act of heroism. It is all God taking sinners and unworthy people like me to use for His own glory and praise and for the furtherance of His kingdom.
I’d like to end with a quote by Jonathan Edwards that I frequently go back to time and time time again, which basically sums up the goal of my life and why I am going on this trip. I pray that whoever you are reading this, whether family, friend, or stranger, that God would so fill your life that you would follow Him wherever He leads. Jesus is enough.
May the peace of God be with you,
Cameron White
“I resolve to live with all my might while I do live.” – Jonathan Edwards
