Photo by Diego Caumont.
Photo by Enes Ersahin
Getting to the tail end of a six week journey encompassing seven European and Middle East countries, I’ve found myself with much to ponder. Writing this on surging seas sailing 1100km from Piraeus (Athens) to Naples and finally onto Rome, I’ve been reflecting back on those who have gone before, travelling these regions. I think of the Apostle Paul who hazarded his life sailing extensively here during the first century into surrounding lands, compelled to bring the gospel message to inhabitants of his day.
Murray Smith
His inspired writings continue to present and reveal timeless truth for all people, of every culture and generation, regarding the message of Jesus Christ being saviour and messiah… that in knowing Him, life finds its purpose and meaning.
Sharing the truth of Jesus, not mere religious dogma, was his mission. He called people to respond to God’s love, to repent from their own ways, receiving God’s salvation. To that end, he put everything on the line. People don’t lightly suffer indescribable hardship, giving their lives for a message they’re not unshakeably convinced is imperative truth. Paul’s own ‘catalogue’ of perilous trials he endured, is convincing… multiple imprisonments, beatings, shipwrecks, relentless dangers and threats, lacking life’s basic necessities at times, as well as being misunderstood and rejected by many.
I love history, not that I know terribly much given the vast scope of what there is to know. I do have a penchant for learning more. I believe it teaches us – that’s why Biblical history particularly interests me. The pages of the Bible make sense of the panoramic sweep of human history, explaining the past but also offering deep re-assurance for the future as well. I’ve been confronted occasionally with glib comments from sceptics that the Bible is just an outdated compilation of man’s fanciful thoughts and ideas, claiming that it’s full of mistakes – not that they can ‘recall’ any.
My conviction is that the Bible is the inspired, infallible word of God and the only mistakes in it are the numerous ones people made by continually doing evil, making bad decisions and reaping the tragedy that flows from wrong deeds.
It’s tragically possible to substitute intriguing novelties ‘about’ God, for the genuine earnest ‘pursuit’ of God for who He is and experiencing personal knowledge and relationship with Him. The Biblical prophet Hosea relayed God’s message saying, “My people are destroyed because they do not know Me…” It isn’t just knowing stuff about God, but it’s knowing Him.
Noticing people everywhere satisfied in seeing relics, visiting shrines or ‘holy’ places, has highlighted for me our propensity to be ever doing and learning, yet to actually miss the One who is Truth! On previous occasions, I’ve observed how the rich experience of visiting Israel, for some becomes something like a veritable Jesus ‘Disneyland’ where the real Jesus, who we’re supposed to know, gets obscured.
Stating his sole purpose and eternal motivation, the Apostle Paul viewed any objective in life as ‘garbage’ compared with going deeper in friendship with God and experiencing the joy and power of truly ‘knowing’ Him. Nothing compares with beginning this ‘journey’.
