Romans 5:6
A death in my family had created a need for me to go “home”. I had planned to drive, as that seemed the most economical way to get there, but I ended up flying. You see the potential for bad weather in California may have hampered my ability to drive there in a timely matter. As I sat on a fully booked flight, racing about the clouds, I began to wonder what the world might look like if transportation had evolved faster. Would it be better or worse off than it is now?
In Biblical times you could get somewhere by walking, riding a donkey or a horse or in a chariot – if you were wealthy or a soldier, or you could travel by boat. This week’s passage from the book of Romans stood out not because it talks of transportation – because it clearly doesn’t. Rather it is the phrase “at just the right time” that grabbed my attention. Even though we are now millennia away from the resurrection things concerning our relationship with Jesus and our salvation still happen at just the right time.
What if Jesus could have driven a SUV or pick-up truck instead of walking everywhere? Would more people or less people have been able to spend time with Him? What if Paul could have flown to Rome instead of having to sail there on a ship? Would Malta have been missed by the Gospel? What about the soldiers and sailors on the ship – would someone else who carried the Good news have ended up on that ship?
But transportation didn’t evolve faster – so Jesus walked and everywhere He went he arrived just in time to heal those who needed healing and to build the relationships that needed to be built. Likewise, Paul used the means of transportation available to him to reach the people he was meant to reach. Every mode of transportation serves a purpose in God’s timing so that at just the right time the Gospel is spread and life transformation happens at the speed of God.
At what speed and who’s timing are you operating under? Are you flying when perhaps you should be walking? Are you sitting still when maybe you should be on your way to the airport? Travel too fast and you may miss an important opportunity that could change someone’s life or your own. Don’t travel at all and the result is the same.
Listen for His travel instructions, move in His timing, then be awestruck by what you’ll see – His life transforming power at work in your life and the lives of those you meet along the way and travel with for a bit – at just the right time.
A Prayer
Father – thank you for Your perfect timing. Cars and planes arrived at the right moments in history. Help us to be attentive to Your call to travel, to use the best mode of transportation, to bring Your transforming love with us, wherever you lead us. In the name of Jesus, our travel advisor – Amen.
