In Other Words...Journey

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Life is a journey.” Or “Life is a marathon, not a sprint.” The metaphor of journey fills the Bible. Words like enduring, traveling, and racing all talk about some trip that ends with a destination. Even salvation and faith seem to be part of such a trip, not just a one-time occurrence. And to be honest, I think that many Christians have a skewed idea of what this journey will be like. Many churches paint a picture that the destination is like Cancun, and the trip is a wonderful experience. But let’s be honest—the Christian life is nothing like that. God’s salvation does not guarantee life without hardships.

Take the Israelite’s experience as an example. Here they had the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, but their journey wasn’t all that wonderful. In fact, at the first sign of opposition some wanted to return to Egypt. Did you catch that? They felt that their life of slavery was better then where they were and where they were going. It is because they did not realize a very important fact—the world outside of slavery is also a world with dangers and struggles. And in the face of such difficulties, how did the people respond? They doubted God’s faithfulness and provision. Even with the Promised Land looming in the distance, they wanted to go back to slavery. Eventually they made the Golden Calf in hopes of getting somewhere. But none of these things helped the journey. They failed the test. Eventually, that generation was forced to wander around in the desert for 40 years because of their lack of faith.

Then there was Jesus. His journey was never fun and promising. His destination was the cross. How many of us would intentionally plan on making a trip so that we would die? None of us. Yet Jesus did. On the way, he too faced some tests and trials. There are many comparisons between what Jesus went through and what the Israelites faced. And there are huge differences. Jesus did not falter. He did not fail the test. Despite the difficult circumstances, Jesus remained faithful. Hardship is a given. Our journeys are not going be like a wild and crazy road trip to a Spring Break destination. They are not always going to be fun. It may or may not have a purpose. Faithfulness is the key – both having faith and being faithful.

With all that in mind, where are we going? What is my purpose? I am sure that many of you would respond, “Heaven. Heaven is our destination.” We are traveling to heaven, and we hope to get there with as little pain and suffering as possible. Can I let you in on something? I disagree with sentiment.

This whole “In other words” series has focused on God bringing peace to this earth. Maybe you’ve missed all of that, but all of the things I have been talking about is God’s way of bringing about that Shalom, that peace, that existed in the beginning. Many Christians think that this will only happen when Jesus comes back. I disagree. Jesus talked about how to live so that we could experience peace on earth. He didn’t say, just bide your time until I come back. He said go into all the world, love one another, be perfect and complete. In fact, when Revelation talks about heaven, it talks about heaven coming to earth.

The end is not heaven it is heaven on earth.
The Promised Land is not a street of gold, but the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
The route is not just squeaking by and biding our time, but practicing the Sermon on the Mount.
The reward is not gold or jewels in our crown, but Shalom—peace.

The destination characterizes the journey and dictates actions and attitude. Where you think you are going makes you act and live a certain way. The Israelites thought they were going to this great place, and as a result they couldn’t understand why they had to suffer or sacrifice on the way. If we view heaven as an eternal party, this will characterize our life now. We will live one way now so we can live differently in heaven. So we give up as little as possible so that we can still reap the reward in heaven. We often separate our life here and heaven there. In reality, we should live now as we will live in heaven. Heaven is not the “end” of the journey. It is not retirement. It is the fulfillment of our life on this earth. When Jesus prays, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” he is saying, may this world, this earth be just like it is in heaven. Everything glorifying God. People loving one another. No selfishness. No worrying only about ourselves. But perfect love and peace.

When we don’t live like heaven on earth is the destination, it is not a journey—it is wandering. We become like the Israelites who never really get there and struggle every step of the way.

So we have to wonder: “Are we journeying (living “as it is in heaven”) or wandering (living just to get into heaven)? The destination dictates the journey.