How To Live Like Your Life Has A Mission
Excerpt from: "The Gospel Of The Kingdom, Pt.2 - The Nudge"

Nick Watson •
July 26, 2026

9 Minute Read

Most of us do not move through the day feeling like our lives have a mission. We are busy, we are a little self-absorbed, and we can get from morning to night without really noticing anybody. Learning how to live like your life has a mission does not start with changing your job. It starts with changing who you understand yourself to be while you are in it.

For a season I traveled constantly for work. I always had my own rental car, and I would land in random cities: New York City, Pittsburgh, places all over the states and in other countries. I would wake up, read my Bible, and drag around a duffel bag holding a hundred pounds of books and commentaries, because thanks for paying your taxes, I could take whatever bags I wanted. I would set up shop wherever I landed, then head out into the city and ask God one question: where am I going today?

It was a really interesting way to live, and somewhere in the middle of it I began to think of myself as an ambassador of Christ.

What Does It Mean to Be an Ambassador for Christ?

At some point God said something to me that reordered everything. You are no longer an operator who happens to be a Christian. You are my Kingdom ambassador who happens to work there.

That was a total mindset shift. If it is true, then everything you do, everywhere you go, and every person you talk to is now on behalf of that. The next morning I woke up thinking in completely different terms: where am I going, and what am I doing for the Kingdom?

This is what Paul asks of us in 2 Corinthians 5. He asks us to live life as though it is not our own, and to live as though we are representing the Kingdom of God in whatever place we happen to be embedded.

Why Do the Fear of God and the Love of God Both Matter?

There are two things happening in this passage. There is a fearful responsibility, and there is a compelling love. The fear of the Lord and the love of Christ are not competing truths; they balance each other.

In every mature stance there is a tension between two things that seem contradictory. How do predestination and free will both work? They do. The truth is not apathetic in the middle, it is a tension. That is the way the mysteries of God tend to work, and the mature answer usually lives in the middle, holding both things at once.

There are two miles of ditch in every mile of road, and people love to end up in one of them. We plant a flag in one camp or another and settle in. But the road runs between the ditches, and that is where we live, in the place where the fear of God and the love of God both compel us to go after people.

I remember living inside that tension. I did not want to fall back into sin, because the fear of God had gripped me, and at the same time I wanted to go out and watch the love of God transform people. It was both. I cannot fall back, because I would be in the hand of an angry God, and yet He loves me so much. You stand there realizing it is somehow the same God. If I ended up in His judgment, I would get everything I deserved, and somehow He rescued me from all of it. He is the same loving, merciful Father who sent a Son, and now His love compels me to act on His behalf.

Fear gives the weight of our calling. Love gives the confidence for it. The same holy God before whom we deserve destruction chose to reconcile us through Christ. Without reverence, love becomes casual and cheap. Without love, reverence becomes legalism. The gospel gives us both.

Does Living on Mission Mean I Have to Perform?

No. If this turns into a works-based religion, it will not last and it will not ring true. The love of Christ is what compels us, and it has to come out of a real well.

People can tell when it is fake. Bob Mumford said it this way: it does not matter what somebody is saying to you, you know if they love you, you know if they are prejudiced against you, and you know if they hate you. You can feel it in the room. You do not have to be some discerning prophet to pick that up, because it is simply in us as human beings. The reverse is true as well. You can say some genuinely powerful and genuinely hard things to people if you love them, because they know it. They look at you and say, I know you love me, and that is why you are telling me this.

Paul tells us what that love produces. "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

We do not deserve this, and yet somehow we get invited into the process of watching other people transformed into the Kingdom. Love God, love people, serve both. We operate from a place of having been reconciled ourselves, transformed by the love of God in our own hearts, and now motivated by that same love to go after people in the world as His representation on the earth.

Christianity begins with His love, not with guilt, pressure, or performance. I remember the day God said, “I love you.” I was washing dishes in my kitchen, and a second later I was on the floor crying, wondering where that even came from. I was just washing dishes.

What Is the Nudge, and Where Does It Come From?

The word Paul uses carries the sense of being held together, driven, and carried forward. That is where the nudge lives.

Scripture says Jesus looked out at the crowds and was filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). That is what moved Him. He looked at people and saw that they needed salvation and they needed the love of God. He went to the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), and what motivated everything He did was the love He had for the Father and the love He had for people.

That same love should motivate us. When we understand the reconciliation we have through Him, and when the Holy Spirit begins to transform us, we start to see people differently. The love of God is the nudge. You are sitting somewhere and you become aware of another person, and love is what does that.

How Do You Hear God in the Middle of a Busy Day?

You slow down. We are all born selfish, and I was born selfish. I can get busy and self-absorbed and move through an entire day without noticing a single person.

But when I slow down and ask God what He wants to do here, and who is nearby that needs to hear something from Him, everything changes. Would you slow your life down enough to ask those questions and actually mean them? Okay, where are we going? We are going over there. We are going to talk to them.

I do not even need to know what to say, because He will give me the words. Maybe the person only needs to know that God sees them. The fact that you noticed them, and that God pointed them out to you, is a place to start. A friend of mine handled it about as simply as it can be handled: “Hey, we are Christians, and we just felt like God said this.” That is a great answer. “Hey, I am a Christian, and I felt like He wanted me to tell you that He sees you.” Start there.

I have said exactly that and watched people make puddles in a coffee shop. That is not the goal. The goal is obedience to the nudge.

The stories I keep hearing all share a common thread. Somebody thought about a particular person. There was a nudge, a compassion that surfaced for them out of nowhere. Something in us asks, what is going on with that person over there? That is compassion, and it is the love of Christ compelling us.

What Does Living on Mission Look Like on an Ordinary Day?

It does not have to be anything cosmic. Pray for somebody. Encourage somebody. Buy a coffee. Make a phone call. Send a text. Sit and listen, and maybe just be quiet and let somebody talk, because that can be more powerful than anything you would have thought to say.

None of that is spectacular, and that is rather the point. This is what walking in the life of the Spirit actually looks like. It is walking in the love of Christ, caring about other people, and being led by the Spirit of God through compassion and through His love.

You do not need a different job, a different city, or a different assignment to live like your life has a mission. You need to understand that you are already an ambassador, embedded exactly where you are, and then slow down enough to notice the person standing in front of you.

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From this Author: Nick Watson
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July 26, 2026 • 9 Minute Read
How To Live Like Your Life Has A Mission
Most of us do not move through the day feeling like our lives have a mission. We are busy, we are a little self-absorbed, and we can get from morning to night without really noticing anybody. Learning how to live like your life has a mission does not start with changing your job. It starts with changing who you understand yourself to be while you are in it. For a season I traveled constantly for work. I always had my own rental car, and I would land in random cities: New York City, Pittsburgh, places all over the states and in other countries. I would wake up, read my Bible, and drag around a duffel bag holding a hundred pounds of books and commentaries, because thanks for paying your taxes, I could take whatever bags I wanted. I would set up shop wherever I landed, then head out into the city and ask God one question: where am I going today? It was a really interesting way to live, and somewhere in the middle of it I began to think of myself as an ambassador of Christ. What Does It Mean to Be an Ambassador for Christ? At some point God said something to me that reordered everything. You are no longer an operator who happens to be a Christian. You are my Kingdom ambassador who happens to work there. That was a total mindset shift. If it is true, then everything you do, everywhere you go, and every person you talk to is now on behalf of that. The next morning I woke up thinking in completely different terms: where am I going, and what am I doing for the Kingdom? This is what Paul asks of us in 2 Corinthians 5. He asks us to live life as though it is not our own, and to live as though we are representing the Kingdom of God in whatever place we happen to be embedded. Why Do the Fear of God and the Love of God Both Matter? There are two things happening in this passage. There is a fearful responsibility, and there is a compelling love. The fear of the Lord and the love of Christ are not competing truths; they balance each other. In every mature stance there is a tension between two things that seem contradictory. How do predestination and free will both work? They do. The truth is not apathetic in the middle, it is a tension. That is the way the mysteries of God tend to work, and the mature answer usually lives in the middle, holding both things at once. There are two miles of ditch in every mile of road, and people love to end up in one of them. We plant a flag in one camp or another and settle in. But the road runs between the ditches, and that is where we live, in the place where the fear of God and the love of God both compel us to go after people. I remember living inside that tension. I did not want to fall back into sin, because the fear of God had gripped me, and at the same time I wanted to go out and watch the love of God transform people. It was both. I cannot fall back, because I would be in the hand of an angry God, and yet He loves me so much. You stand there realizing it is somehow the same God. If I ended up in His judgment, I would get everything I deserved, and somehow He rescued me from all of it. He is the same loving, merciful Father who sent a Son, and now His love compels me to act on His behalf. Fear gives the weight of our calling. Love gives the confidence for it. The same holy God before whom we deserve destruction chose to reconcile us through Christ. Without reverence, love becomes casual and cheap. Without love, reverence becomes legalism. The gospel gives us both. Does Living on Mission Mean I Have to Perform? No. If this turns into a works-based religion, it will not last and it will not ring true. The love of Christ is what compels us, and it has to come out of a real well. People can tell when it is fake. Bob Mumford said it this way: it does not matter what somebody is saying to you, you know if they love you, you know if they are prejudiced against you, and you know if they hate you. You can feel it in the room. You do not have to be some discerning prophet to pick that up, because it is simply in us as human beings. The reverse is true as well. You can say some genuinely powerful and genuinely hard things to people if you love them, because they know it. They look at you and say, I know you love me, and that is why you are telling me this. Paul tells us what that love produces. "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). We do not deserve this, and yet somehow we get invited into the process of watching other people transformed into the Kingdom. Love God, love people, serve both. We operate from a place of having been reconciled ourselves, transformed by the love of God in our own hearts, and now motivated by that same love to go after people in the world as His representation on the earth. Christianity begins with His love, not with guilt, pressure, or performance. I remember the day God said, “I love you.” I was washing dishes in my kitchen, and a second later I was on the floor crying, wondering where that even came from. I was just washing dishes. What Is the Nudge, and Where Does It Come From? The word Paul uses carries the sense of being held together, driven, and carried forward. That is where the nudge lives. Scripture says Jesus looked out at the crowds and was filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). That is what moved Him. He looked at people and saw that they needed salvation and they needed the love of God. He went to the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), and what motivated everything He did was the love He had for the Father and the love He had for people. That same love should motivate us. When we understand the reconciliation we have through Him, and when the Holy Spirit begins to transform us, we start to see people differently. The love of God is the nudge. You are sitting somewhere and you become aware of another person, and love is what does that. How Do You Hear God in the Middle of a Busy Day? You slow down. We are all born selfish, and I was born selfish. I can get busy and self-absorbed and move through an entire day without noticing a single person. But when I slow down and ask God what He wants to do here, and who is nearby that needs to hear something from Him, everything changes. Would you slow your life down enough to ask those questions and actually mean them? Okay, where are we going? We are going over there. We are going to talk to them. I do not even need to know what to say, because He will give me the words. Maybe the person only needs to know that God sees them. The fact that you noticed them, and that God pointed them out to you, is a place to start. A friend of mine handled it about as simply as it can be handled: “Hey, we are Christians, and we just felt like God said this.” That is a great answer. “Hey, I am a Christian, and I felt like He wanted me to tell you that He sees you.” Start there. I have said exactly that and watched people make puddles in a coffee shop. That is not the goal. The goal is obedience to the nudge. The stories I keep hearing all share a common thread. Somebody thought about a particular person. There was a nudge, a compassion that surfaced for them out of nowhere. Something in us asks, what is going on with that person over there? That is compassion, and it is the love of Christ compelling us. What Does Living on Mission Look Like on an Ordinary Day? It does not have to be anything cosmic. Pray for somebody. Encourage somebody. Buy a coffee. Make a phone call. Send a text. Sit and listen, and maybe just be quiet and let somebody talk, because that can be more powerful than anything you would have thought to say. None of that is spectacular, and that is rather the point. This is what walking in the life of the Spirit actually looks like. It is walking in the love of Christ, caring about other people, and being led by the Spirit of God through compassion and through His love. You do not need a different job, a different city, or a different assignment to live like your life has a mission. You need to understand that you are already an ambassador, embedded exactly where you are, and then slow down enough to notice the person standing in front of you.

Nick Watson