I Must Travel

 

If you want to open your mind and your spirit to God’s voice, you must travel. I know that there are some people who don’t like to travel – in fact, I’m one of them! There are other people who love to travel – like my wife – she drags me, kicking and screaming, all over the world! But regardless of whether or not you have a natural affinity for travel, you will not be able to hear God’s voice clearly if you don’t travel.

What is it about travel that makes it necessary for spiritual insight? If you spend your life in the same place, doing the same thing, going through the same routine, then your mind and spirit will stagnate. If you want to create space in your mind and spirit to hear God’s voice, you must leave that which is familiar and immerse yourself in that which is new and strange and foreign. If you want to hear new tones in the symphony of God’s concert, you must go where new songs are sung. If you want to see new colors in the kaleidoscope of God’s handiwork, you must go where new art is displayed. It has been said that “wise men still seek Jesus,” but in order to find him, they must travel far from their homeland. We cannot find God when we are stuck in our tightly controlled routine.

I’m not talking about traveling to the beach, or traveling to Disneyland, or going on a cruise. I’m talking about mission trips, or traveling when the schedule is out of your control, or trips to places that challenge you culturally, or travel to places that take you out of your comfort zone, or trips where your financial and physical health may be at risk. Only then can you be jolted out of your rut – a rut whose presence you might not even recognize – to see God’s work in new ways.

Everyone in the Bible who was used greatly by God traveled widely. Jesus, of course, traveled from heaven to earth, the greatest journey ever recorded. Even when he was on earth, he made an epic journey as a child from Israel to Egypt and then back home again with his parents. I can imagine how his years in Egypt affected his thinking. As he looked around him, he must have visualized his ancestors toiling in slavery centuries earlier, crying out for a redeemer. He must have remembered God raising up Moses to be that redeemer. And maybe he had an inkling, even at that young age, that he might be the new Moses, the new Redeemer, the perfect Redeemer of God’s people. This idea is wonderfully and poignantly expressed in Rich Mullins’s song “My Deliverer.”

Everyone in the Bible who knew God well, and who served him well, traveled widely. Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and John – they all traveled widely.

Every great Christian throughout church history traveled widely. Augustine, Martin Luther, the Wesley brothers, Dwight Moody, Billy Graham, and of course all the great missionaries of the past few centuries – they all traveled widely.

Almost without exception, everyone who I respect spiritually has traveled far and wide. Those who travel open their minds and imaginations to God’s voice. Those who stay at home remain stagnant and mired in their traditions of cultural Christianity. Those who stay at home are unknowingly trapped in the superficial, shallow brand of Christianity that plagues America.

Some may object, “God is not limited by travel – he can speak to me and use me regardless of how much I travel.” Of course God is not limited – but we are limited. I cannot hear if I’m deaf, I cannot see if I’m blind, I cannot think if I’m asleep, and I cannot know God well if I don’t travel. These are not God’s limitations – they are my limitations.

Some may object, “But travel costs money. Is it reasonable that my spiritual maturity should be hindered because I’m not wealthy enough to travel?” But the circumstances that prevent you from traveling are irrelevant. It’s not fair that the person born blind cannot see; it’s not fair that the person born deaf cannot hear; it’s not fair that the person who languishes in a coma cannot think; and it’s not fair that the person without money cannot travel. But that doesn’t change the fact that the blind person cannot see, the deaf person cannot hear, the comatose person cannot think, and the home-bound person cannot know God well.

Aren’t there exceptions to the need for travel? Yes, of course. As with any rule, there may be exceptions. Those who are blind can read Braille. Those who are deaf may be able to get a cochlear implant. Those who are asleep may attain insights in their dreams. And those who don’t travel may be able to overcome their obstacles and know God despite their narrow experience. But these are edge cases; the exception proves the rule – it does not invalidate the rule.

There are also some who travel who never expand their horizons. If you are determined to keep your blinders on, no amount of travel will remove them. Yes, there are exceptions. A few who don’t travel can find spiritual depth, and an unfortunate few who travel will never get out of their rut. But again, these are exceptions.

You don’t have to travel to be a Christian, or to know God, or to understand the Bible, or to experience answered prayer, or to be used by God. But if you want to take your spiritual depth to the next level, you must travel. If you want a deeper knowledge of God, you must invest in travel. You must see for yourself the variegated colors of the face of God; you must hear for yourself the foreign tongues in which he speaks; and you must experience for yourself new and surprising ways in which he works. You must travel.