A Journey of a Thousand Miles

Let me confess something to you—I am a serious traveler. Now, since my wife may or may not read what’s written here, I’ll go ahead and tell you something that you can’t repeat to her if you ever have the opportunity to meet her. I admit it—I drive my wife crazy with my fanatical attempt to plan out every detail of a trip. Not just the big details mind you. I have this need within me to plan even the smallest detail. Now, before you judge me too quickly, let me add, that’s just the way God wired me. I’ve come to accept that.

And with today’s technology, I can plan every trip down to the smallest detail. Of course, there’s Expedia.com to book my flight, hotel room, and car rental. There’s Google.com to tell me about the area I will be in—with a full description of nearby hotels, shopping malls, gas stations, and just about everything else I could possibly want to know.

At Google.com I can also print out a satellite view of where I will be! How cool is that!

Then, there’s Mapquest.com to not only print out a map of the general area, but to also give me exact directions from my house to the location I am going. But, it doesn’t stop there. Mapquest.com also gives my estimated mileage to the area, and even an estimation of how long it will take to drive there!

All I need now is a personal GPS device and I could hold all that information in the palm of my hand.

There is no doubt in my mind that a good journey requires good preparation. Whether it’s maps, or directions, or even your spouse riding along with you to help you navigate, making good preparations will make the journey go much better.

As Christians, we are on a journey for the King. Let’s be clear. We have a choice to make about this journey. We can work alone, in isolation, handling everything ourselves, making do with our skill sets and talents, I started to say that we could be a Lone Ranger-type servant, but that illustration won’t hold water because even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. But, you get the picture. We can tackle this journey alone, if we choose.

That’s one way to serve. And, you know as well as me, that strategy sure seems to be the more logical way to work at times—at least you know you can count on yourself! Most of the time.

However, I don’t really believe God’s intent is for any of us to serve Him alone. Here’s the truth I want you to wrap your arms around today: God desires for all of us to be on a Spirit-filled journey that moves all nations to Christ.

So, I’ve got a question for you: Are you willing to choose God’s journey over maintenance in your daily walk?

That question isn’t as easy to answer as we might first think. Most of us would say, “Sure, who doesn’t?” Or we might ask, “Aren’t we supposed to choose His way over maintenance?”

But listen. If we are to choose God’s way over maintenance, we have to do more than just hope for it to be true. Hoping that we will be involved will not make it come true. Hoping that we journey with Him is a waste of time if all you do is hope and never begin the journey.

Our work for Jesus Christ is not about settling for a routine, monotonous motion of religious activity. Our work for the kingdom is about sacrificing every facet of our lives to make the salvation of Jesus Christ known in all nations. Our work is a total commitment, it is a daily commitment, it is a single focus on taking up our cross each day for God’s work.