Greetings internet. I’m posting this from the comfort of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in London. Waiting for my next flight to Uganda.
If you’ve never been to Terminal 5, it’s amazing. Amazing that they let me in. Because it is one of the highest-end malls I’ve ever been in. There are beautiful people everywhere. Handbags for sale that cost more than a month’s pay. And so many different cultures of people coming or going to one corner of the globe or another.
The glitz and glamour is intoxicating. And everytime I travel to place like this, I get big ideas and big plans. I’m going to travel a month through Europe! Then New Zealand and South America. Oh and can’t forget about Asia.
On the way here, I was talking with someone about eternity and heaven. And she said she’s looking forward to God revealing the reasons for why some things happened the way they did and seeing the ripples of the impact from her life. For my entire life, I have looked forward to exactly the same thing. Why did God allow that bad thing to happen? Why did God make me go through that detour? What is God doing through my life and how does that ripple out through other people?
But as she was talking, I just realized how empty that now sounds to me as a motivation. Not that I have any idea if that’s going to happen or not, but as I was thinking about it, I want to live my life with faith so strong, so reliable that I will trust God even if I never, ever understand the reasons why. I don’t even want the idea of one day knowing to be my motivation for obedience. The one and only motivation I want to trust and obey is because I trust, whole-heartedly, Jesus. Not because he will ever explain himself, but because I have seen his motivations towards me and they are good.
Here’s how I connect these two disconnected thoughts: I get wowed and impressed by lifestyles of the rich and famous. The glitzy glamourous lifestyles. The world travel. And I get a little envious. But then I think about Jesus, and though was rich, for our sakes he became poor.
Instead of adopting the lifestyles of the rich and famous, he humbled himself and gave himself up for me. I can trust him not because I’ll ever get an explanation for why things happened the way they did, but because he demonstrated he is trustworthy in everything. And I can trust my everything to him.
And as appealing as the lifestyles of the rich and famous may be, pursuing trusting Jesus wholly and completely is better. Even if it’s harder.