07/15/2023
How far would I walk to hear the gospel, or to see the grave of a disciple whose hand had been held by Jesus? How many miles would I travel to save the soul of one man or woman who had never heard of our Lord? Would I walk on Pilgrimage over the Pyrenees Mountains and across Spain to Santiago de Compostela? Would I sail across raging seas in a wooden boat to preach the gospel to a single Roman centurion?
“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
Romans 1:14-15 ESV
Millions have travelled the Pilgrim's trail to visit the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, and Paul sailed to Rome through violent seas to deliver the gospel of Jesus to the citizens of Rome. So we ask ourselves where we have been, and who we have preached the gospel to, but, despite how this sounds, it isn’t the distance nor the hardship that matters in pilgrimages; it is the reason why we go… it is the love we feel that fuels our desire to serve Him, and to undertake the long and challenging journeys to be in His presence as we go.
I wrote a few weeks ago about an Ethiopian Pastor that travels to the Middle East to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. His resolve is stronger than a rock that stands against a raging sea, and his faith deeper than any ocean trench. In the most dangerous place on earth for a Christian to walk he steps forth, and speaks of Rome, Peter, Paul, and Calvary as he raises the banner of Jesus Christ to declare Him King. In comparison to him I ask myself… where have I been, and who have I saved?
Have you ever asked yourself these questions? I am not talking about flying in economy to a town where everyone knows who Jesus is and spending a week on mission, or walking from our car into a Soup Kitchen to feed men who eat there every day; no, even I do these things. I'm talking about getting knocked down and blinded by Jesus then picking yourself up and going wherever He sends you, or walking side by side with Him across scorching miles until the hand you find in yours is held so tightly that you can’t imagine ever letting it go. Where have we been, who have we saved, and how far would we go to hold that hand? How are we asking ourselves these questions?
“And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."”
Acts 9:5-6 ESV
We long to hear His voice as He tells us where He would have us go, and to see the dust rising from His feet as they travel beside ours towards the revelation of faith that awaits us. Don’t we all want our pilgrimage to be grand... for our journey to be epic, and for the souls we deliver to the kingdom, to be numerous? But going somewhere grand, or doing something monumental, isn't always where He wants to send us, or how our love for Him is to be revealed. Sometimes the loving journey He asks us to undertake is a seemingly insignificant one. Sometimes we are asked to walk to the house next door to visit with an elderly shut-in, or to bend down and offer our shoulder to a heartbroken soul.
I was a biology major in college and one of the most amazing things, perhaps more incredible than scenes of the Serengeti or an Alaskan salmon run, was what I found in a single drop of pond water on a small slide that I slid into my microscope. Not every marvel is large, and not every miracle is one that our eye can see. Sometimes God’s voice sends us to do enormously marvelous things in small and insignificant places, and to take miraculous journeys with a single step taken in love.
So perhaps the short walk from our car to the soup kitchen is our Pilgrimage, and the man we hand the sandwich to, and tell about our savior, is the only soul we will ever be called to reach out to... but isn't that journey magnificent if it is in obedience to God’s will, and performed while we are lovingly holding the hand of Jesus as we answer His call to walk next door with Him?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for sending me out to witness to others, and I thank you for the journey we are traveling together. Holy Father, I listen for your voice that sends me, and the footsteps of Jesus that I long to trace. I praise you for the epic journeys you send so many on, and I praise you for the small microscope slide that contains the sum of my calling. Lord give me the insight into your Word, and the magnification necessary to see the wonder of your will for me. Never let me underestimate what you have prepared for me, and the importance of worlds so small that their entirety is comprised of a single cell, or my mission is to deliver the gospel to one lost soul. Father, it was the tiny strands of DNA that none could see which formed my Lord Jesus in the womb of Mary, and it was the way of grief, the way of suffering, the Via Dolorosa, that seemed so short and yet reached from Jerusalem into Hell, and then onward into heaven itself. Never let me confuse the size of your calling with the importance you place on it, and never let me attempt to measure the length of my spiritual journey with an earthly rule. Praised be your name Father, and regardless of where you send me... show me your boundless glory... in both the great and the small things of faith let me find the enormity of your love and grace.
“But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Matthew 19:30 ESV
Rich Forbes