Errands on Mission

Are you prepared to make a defense of the hope you have when you buy toilet paper?

Not the hope you have that it’s on sale, or the checkout line might be short though it’s a Saturday afternoon. The hope that is in you because your King who died for your sin lives in you.   

Perhaps our let-me-turn-off-my-mind-and-zip-in-and-zip-out moments can become among the most precious accounts in heaven’s treasuries. When we run errands, we may operate on a mission: fill needs, cut costs, and exercise efficiency. But what if we run errands on mission? What if we open ourselves up to fill others’ needs? What if we count with eternal currency? What if we discover we are speaking to those who could be seated at the Lamb’s table because our eternal eyes and ears were open? When we slow down where the world speeds up, people recognize who we belong to (Acts 4:13).

Labor of the Lord

Gospel labor during errands begins with Jesus’s work in our hearts. When we love the gospel, preach it to ourselves from an understanding of our continuing need for it, and dive into the joy of intimacy with Jesus through his word and prayer—words will come. We all talk about what, or whom, we love and delight in (Matt. 12:34; Luke 6:45). So, a steady walk with Jesus prepares the believer to “make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in” us (1 Pet. 3:15). For we know nothing of greater value to give.

And God works in the hearts of his people and the recipients of our words before we are questioned about our hope. Moses, Stephen, Peter, and John are among the faces that shone brightly after being with God (Ex. 34:29; Acts 4:13, 6:15). The Lord radiates, even through our faces, when we have been filled with his love (Num. 6:25). Likewise, “we are the aroma of Christ” among believers and unbelievers who surround us (2 Cor. 2:15). A believer’s simple submission to our greatest joy opens doors to hearts to see light and smell love before we open our mouths.

Labor with the Lord

As Christ’s ambassadors, we have the ability to herald the good news of his gospel during even the most mundane of activities. And one of the most freeing parts of God’s invitation to us is that we don’t have to create these opportunities for ourselves. God provides them, and he asks us to boldly trust him to work through the truth of the words we speak in his name.

God prepares believers to boldly “make a defense to anyone”—not simply those we know and love—and share hope whenever we buy anything! Sometimes, we run errands when we walk through hard seasons, challenging days, or a particularly fragile frame of mind—and the defense we want to make is not of the gospel but of the guilt we carry to our cars that we didn’t feel like sharing that day. But those moments may instead afford us gospel goldmines, when we: (1) remember that we need what we offer, and thereby share it with “gentleness and respect” (Acts 4:13); and when we (2) engage in bold vulnerability. We can acknowledge the thorn. We can describe the thorn. We can share our pleas for the thorn to be removed. And then, we display hope as our cashier hears a believer struggle and yet clings to God’s all-sufficient grace (2 Cor. 12:7–9).      

Labor with Eternal Eyes

As you look at the race the Lord has prepared for you, consider slowing down. Consider embracing inefficiency. It may open your eyes to opportunities to share God’s love with your aisle neighbors. Love may slow us down enough to get names. Pray for and with people: “I’m a follower of Jesus and I love to pray for people we meet. How can I pray for you?” Acknowledge Christ (Luke 12:8) when you talk about the weather, the day’s activities, your kids or theirs. Look for opportunities to serve, help search for items, and pay when able.

And if you visit stores on similar days and at similar times each week, you may be a consistent light to the same employees or customers. Kind eyes and warm smiles that lead to thoughtful questions and actions over time stand out to those unaccustomed to receiving love amidst the mundane. They want to know why we shed tears when they share their stories. They want to know why we pay. They want to know why we value their names. Don’t let them leave it at “You’re kind” or “You’re patient.” Let’s give them the real answer. When they acknowledge our works, we have an opportunity to acknowledge Christ—share the Hope who lives in us.

It is certainly natural and commonplace for us to avert our eyes and hold our tongues when people seem too busy, or in the case of regular interactions with employees, or have already said they had no prayer requests the previous times you asked. But eternal eyes first look up before they look out. The promise that our labor is never wasted holds true because it is “in the Lord” and not in our minds or the minds of others (1 Cor. 15:58). So we keep going with our eyes on the one who sees the full story and delights to prepare us to enter in. And when people outwardly don’t care or dismiss the answers, press on. Your obedience may be the seed or water in God’s garden (1 Cor. 3:6-8). Or perhaps you unknowingly impacted eternity by spurring on a believer who watched and listened to your labor of love.

Labor with Little Eyes

If you are a parent, bringing your children with you as you run errands may make all the difference. Though the world may see kids alongside as a hindrance to efficiency, they may be the key to eternity for someone else. Parents’ love for their children stands out, and it could show up through kind words or actions, physical affection, or even what we don’t say or do to them. The intentional and unintentional seeds parents plant force observers to proclaim, “You’ve got your hands full!” or “You must be busy!” And if we talk about our children the way God does (Ps. 127:3–5), suddenly our willingness to tell the truth about children elevates the conversation to the truth we didn’t anticipate sharing on the go.

Parents are examples to their children of disciple-making, too, through words and works in the world. When we love and speak through store aisles, we teach our children by displaying Christ-exalting love (Deut. 6:7). As they experience our love in word and deed, children bring their gifts and creativity to transform parents on mission to family on mission. One day our children will run errands on their own. Let’s teach them how to bring Hope with them, one day at a time.

Labor through Failure

And parent or not, we will fail. The same apostle who exhorts us to be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have, stumbled miserably three times by denying his Lord (Luke 22:54–62) before Jesus granted him three redemptive opportunities to express his devotion to him (John 21:15–17). We, like Peter, have missed opportunities to share about our Lord with others. And we will miss more.

Yet failure may at times be the sharpening tool God chooses to ready us to speak up in other moments. “Have you always been this happy?” inquired another who had regular interactions with me for a few years. “I think so, at least since college,” I replied. What?! I was absolutely one hundred percent wrong, and I did not even realize my significant miss until hours later. Our forgiving, redeeming God does not waste our intentional and unintentional omissions. Moments like that ready Christians to reflect on what others often say to us so when the next moment arrives and we hear the same words, we are not caught off guard but instead provide the true answer.

Toilet-Papering on Mission

Hope has a name. His name is Jesus. “What I do have I give to you” (Acts 3:6)—so let us each take the next step to offer Who we have. Through the Spirit, believers’ hearts and faces can boldly proclaim Christ and what he has done for us. And God’s all-sufficient grace more than covers our misses and readies us to speak up once more. Who might you see in heaven because you spoke the name of Jesus when you bought toilet paper?