By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.”
Luke 24:28-29 NLT
Our life journey will have many destinations, some chosen and some forced upon us. At times we need to go some distance in the wrong direction to discover something about ourselves and our true destination.
I became a Christian at university and followed a path that led me into a confident and specific expression of the gospel. I was happy, yet there was a measure of discomfort buried deep within my soul. Still, I was encouraged in what I did in Christian ministry and enjoyed all the attention and affirmation. It also offered me a living of sorts and fringe benefits. Little did I realise I was off course and headed towards a destination that didn’t bear my name.
These two despondent disciples began with a shared objective with each other, and with their friends in Jerusalem. Now approaching Emmaus, their original home, they thought, wrongly, their journey was at an end. Jesus indicated that the journey wasn’t over, and they begged him to stay and accept their offer of hospitality. I don’t think that Jesus wanted either himself or them to keep walking. It was to communicate that as yet they’d not completed this part of their journey. The disciples in their insistence that Jesus stay with them show us that even without understanding we are to implore Jesus to accept our hospitality and keep God close. Our temptation is to abandon God, to let him walk on and away when we feel we are close to home.
At one point in my deep despondency I considered abandoning God altogether. I chose to hold on. It was only then I slowly discovered truth and the real purpose for my life journey.
QUESTION
We are all heading in a direction on our life journey. What’s yours?
PRAYER
Help me to stay close to you in my life journey; guide me and guard me, I pray.
Image-1.5796adc7edc446909f7ca0083b1aec14.jpg