Good morning. I just returned from a sojourn to Canada a few days ago. It was a time away in the north woods to be spent catching fish and swatting mosquitoes. Both of those activities were available in great abundance.
Many of us will take off this summer for a get-away. There will likely be bugs, mishaps, expenses, irritations…problems along the way.
So why do we do it?
The answer is simple, isn’t it? We go, and we pay the price, because of what awaits us. Something special has called us to leave the ordinary and take a trip. That special something is even more tantalizing when it is a special someone, or family. Seeing the people we love is worth the trip no matter how annoying and problematic the travel might be.
God agrees.
There was a time when the gulf, the incredible distance between God and man, was extreme. God hated that situation. He hated it so much that He fixed it. God bridged the gap. God paid the price. God accepted the challenge, and the pain. God sent us Jesus, that portion of Himself we know as the Son of God.
In the second chapter of the Philippian letter, we read of Jesus’ work to bring us back to the arms of God. The One of whom it is being written is our Lord Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to cling to.
Rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! Philippian 2:6-8
What a journey! What a sacrifice! What an accomplishment! God loves you so much that He was glad to do all that was required, just to hold you close once again. You are worth the price, worth the journey, because in the end it is all about love.
Vern