Live for the Journey

Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him – Hebrews 5:8-9

I wonder how committed we are as followers of Jesus.  Do we embrace the difficulties of life with excitement knowing that it is part of our journey towards perfection?  I’m not sure I know of a single person who does this, but we should be of this mind.   

“Because God’s goal for us is to become Christlike (Rom 8:29), the journey becomes the destination.  It is on the journey towards heaven that we encounter trials, tribulations, and blessings that conform our inner person to the character of Christ.” – David Jeremiah

I knew a Pastor who worried about how effective he could be because he had not gone through any great difficulties in life.  He remarked about how every fellow Pastor he knew had gone through some trial that required them to hang on with faith and see God work.  “How can I know my faith is real if I never have to use it?” He wondered aloud.  I didn’t understand his thoughts at that time.  My thought was that if you do the right things because you are obeying in faith you probably don’t have to go through great trials because you are already exercising your faith.  God can bless you early and greatly.  However, having had to depend upon my faith and nothing else, I also see where it is very beneficial to learn how to live in that presence.

When we see the journey as the destination, we don’t see trials as trials, the way non-believers do, but as opportunity to either grow personally or be a witness to someone in our faith of our Savior, or both.  When we learn to see everyone and every situation through God’s eyes, and not only through our own perspective, we gain the transcendent ability to be beyond the moment or the pain or the pettiness.  Our responses can be measured and delivered from a different place, a place not of this world.

Yet, if Christ had to suffer, it is unwise for us to believe that we should not or will not.  Matthew Henry comments, “We should learn by all our afflictions a humble obedience to the will of God.  We need affliction, to teach us submission.”  It is important for us to learn and relearn that God’s Word is the absolute authority and what is best for our lives.  Our faith begins with God as the authority.  Accepting this and standing on it in fullness of heart and mind is our goal and the journey takes us there.