A Sense of Mission: What We Can Learn From Paul Ryan

 "The disarming thing is his sense of mission is greater than his sense of ambition," says Ryan adviser David Smick, a Washington economic consultant. "This is disconcerting to his critics." 

~ excerpt from Fred Barnes: How Ryan Recasts the Race (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 20, 2012). 

I know that a lot of Christians (and people in general) think that following politics is a huge waste of time.  But I feel that we can learn a lot from politicians, and we can better preserve morality in our society if we pay attention to the nauseating world of politics.  

This morning, I heard Fred Barnes (an opinion writer for the Wall Street Journal) say something about Paul Ryan, the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate that really made me think.  He quoted David Smick, who said that Paul Ryan's appeal to people is that "his sense of mission is greater than his sense of ambition."  This missional attitude to serving our country is extremely appealing to the everyday person who is naturally distrustful of government officials who focus on polls and public appeal rather than public good.  Not only that, but it is threatening to critics who have committed their life's work to serving ambitious politicians.  The critics are finding it hard to cut down someone who is truly committed to doing what is best for others--not himself.  I guess Paul Ryan just represents the concept that sometimes the cause is greater than the man.  And the man who understands this and still fights for the cause, is truly hard to overcome.

As I contemplated the impact that Paul Ryan is having on politics, it occurred to me that if Christians had this same missional approach to life, we too could have an astounding impact on society.  If we truly lived our lives so that our sense of mission was greater than our personal ambition, the world would likely look very different.  If, instead of striving for material success in our jobs, Christians worked with a commitment to excellence and ethics, we could really change the workplace.  If, instead of striving to build mega churches and hit attendance quotas, our churches took their task of serving their communities and reaching out to the needy seriously, our churches might see healthy growth.  And if, Christian families aimed to raise godly children instead of "well-adjusted" individuals who can survive in this world, maybe our young people would be less tempted to cave into worldly pressure.

I think we all have personal ambitions that we have had to deal with in our lives.  For me, I had to understand that my professional success is meaningless if I'm not fulfilling my duty to be a submissive wife and a committed mother (following the example of the Prov 31 wife).  And yet still, I have ambitious ideas that I am understanding will have to be sacrificed if I'm going to truly live a missional life for the glory of God. 

It is my hope and prayer that someday people will say about me, "her sense of mission (for God's work) was greater than her sense of ambition."