The Secret Ingredient

I met someone not too long ago who totally blew me away.  She was a doctor who preferred to be practicing as a missionary doctor in India amongst the poor.  I asked her why.  She really didn’t know.  It’s something she just always wanted to do.  

This fascinated me because in America, when you meet the rare person who’s willing to give up financially secure careers for mission, it’s due to some crisis experience – a “Damascus Road” type experience, or a long ordeal that transforms them.  But for her, it was none of that.  It was just what she wanted to do.

To add to how mind boggling (or mind bottling?) this is, she’s ethnically Malayalee.  If you are Malayalee, you know our culture in the 21^st century isn’t one that promotes giving up financial and social status for the poor.  But she wasn’t raised in Kerala.  She wasn’t raised in America.  She was raised in southern Africa.  Was it her parents’ upbringing?  I believe that is significant, but considering her parents prefer her not to do what she’s doing, I don’t know how significant it is directly.  So my only conclusion is that it was something in the social makeup of the culture she was raised in outside the home.

This mysterious “something” is not found in Kerala, nor is it found in America.  But I want to know what it is.

I met a college student the other day.  He’s doing his masters in social work in hopes to do fulltime ministry either in his denomination, or through a mission organization.  His older brother is a nurse who desires to be a nurse in the mission fields of India.  In this case, it wasn’t the culture outside the home that did this to these two brothers, but it was the culture inside the home.  Their father works for a mission organization, so as a family they’ve been involved.  It was in their family culture.

I don’t know if there’s a similar ingredient here in these two situations, apart from Christ whom both profess.  And I don’t want to belittle the faith factor in this.  I am wholly convinced that it is Christ’s working in these people’s lives for them to have these desires to do what God desires.  It’s just that it wasn’t some sudden revelation, but God working through their upbringing, inside or outside the home.

But is Christ the only thing that's missing?  I have a hard time saying it is.  Because I know many persons who know Christ as Lord and Savior, but they have no natural conviction to "die to self" in that manner.  They also belong to varying church traditions, from charismatic, to Pentecostal, Baptist, Presbyterian, Anglican, and eastern churches.  It could just be because they weren't meant for it.  Or it could mean their culture hasn't nurtured their faith in the way it was meant to be.   I believe it is more the latter than the former, because Jesus made no distinction on who helps the poor and suffering.  The apostles likewise made no distinction.

I just want to know what is that ingredient.  Because that ingredient is something families need in the Mar Thoma Church, and cultures need in Kerala and America.   Because the Church needs more people like them.