Welcome to Day 25 of this series, blogging through the Book of Romans with HelloMornings.
Today, our Scripture reading is Romans 15: 22 - 29 ...
In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places. 23 But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. 24 I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey. 25 But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there. 26 For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. 27 They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially. 28 As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain. 29 And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.
I love the balanced view of life and ministry which Paul has in verses 22 - 24: "In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places. But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey."
Paul is very clear about what his calling in life is, and he is single-minded about pursuing what God has called him to do (v23 - 24).
But he is also aware that all of it - his life and his ministry - is in God's hands. He isn't put off or discouraged by delays or detours along the way - in fact, he takes full advantage of the times when he is waylaid, and uses them as an opportunity to preach somewhere else on the way to his eventual goal!
James 4: 13 - 16 also teaches us to have this attitude to life: 'Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.'
Of course we must make plans, and it's important to have a purpose in our lives (it's even better when we know what God's purpose for our lives is!), but we need to be careful to be seeking the Lord's direction and favour for the journey, even when we know we're doing what He has called us to do.
It's so easy to think we're following the Lord, when actually we're making our own plans, because we forget to ask our Commanding Officer for instructions.
Let's take a leaf from Paul's book, and hold our plans and strategies lightly, while we hold tightly to the Lord and stay in step with the Holy Spirit daily!