Keys for the Journey

Have you ever thought about your walk with God as a journey? Perhaps most Christians have, but have you thought about what you might bring with you on such a journey?

Jesus asks only that you bring yourself and not look back at your old life.

Is it too little to ask or is it too much?

I suppose the answer depends on how you view God's calls to us.

A touring musician would bring at least their instrument with them, leaving for weeks at a time, but when you walk with God, the travel never stops.

The journey forward into the greater things might not look how you thought it’d look, often full of twists and little turns that make you wonder why you headed that way, but the result is worth it.

The result is constant transformation, and the journey is actually endless. When you walk with the Lord, even death doesn’t stop that forward momentum. The world to come will also have us drawing closer to Christ.

All He asks is that you don’t look back and leave it all behind to follow Him. When He called the fishermen, they were expected to let their nets stay put to fish for men and women for the Kingdom of God.

Back then, being asked by a Torah teacher was one of the greatest honors.

Blue-collar workers like fishermen were often uneducated and understood little about spiritual matters other than what the religious authorities were teaching them at the time.

Jesus broke that mold, choosing the common to overtake the complex.

The little things to bring down the great things.

If you decide on this path, it won’t always be easy.

Especially if you stand for the truth, no matter what it costs you.

Some of the things I realize from the Bible put me at odds with popular Christian opinion, and that’s OK.

The Pharisees and Sadducees hated Christ for His infinite light in this world, creating a new following based on love and the higher things of the Law of God. He struck down their pretentious notions of what righteousness is and destroyed their nonexistent foundations when they added rules that simply weren’t there.

Sometimes standing for truth in that way will get you flack, but you must press on, remembering that all He asked was for you to follow Him into the higher ways of doing things on this Earth.

So I ask you again, what will you bring with you into the new life that awaits in Christ?

Will you bring the old, dead baggage of the past with you when He said that those who look back are not fit for the Kingdom of God?

Will you bring your curiosity with you and seek first God in all you do?

New doors are opened on the journey with the new keys God provides to you.

You can’t open ‌new doors if you’re still using that rusty old key from days long gone.

But it’s a skeleton key, you say.

Well, that’s dead, isn’t it?

Seek the journey ahead and use the new keys God gives you when you walk the new paths.

My point is, when you take a leap of faith and embark on that new journey, God will give you everything you need to fulfill His plan for your life.

So what will you bring?

I think you know the answer.

“Yes, I’ll follow you, and I won’t look back.”

Shalom.