Atlanta traffic and freeways are always daunting but never more so than at a mall exit during the post-holiday sales when there’s snow on the ground. It would have been much easier to go with the flow and end up at the mall than to fight the traffic to get to the restaurant across the street where our daughter and son-in-law were announcing whether they’re having a boy or a girl. Quick lane changes, left turns, and impatient drivers could have ruined a perfectly lovely evening but we were determined to fulfill our mission.
For believers, this idea of fighting traffic and moving in and out among the pack while moving toward different goals is all too familiar. Christ blazed His unique new Way through throngs of people moving in ancient directions. Judas tried forcing Jesus into a different lane but only succeeded in crashing. Peter tried setting up a roadblock when Jesus turned toward His destiny of death by crucifixion, but this outspoken disciple found himself in a head-on collision with Jesus' Purpose. All of the disciples refused to believe Jesus would go against the natural flow of self-preservation to risk driving through Jerusalem's treacherous streets filled with road-rage, fear and the inebriation of self-righteousness. Two thousand years later, Jesus' narrow one-way road stands open and clear through the masses.
God’s Word teaches me I’m always on a mission through crowds going the opposite direction. I can let the mob make me doubt, question or give up my mission to join them or I can patiently fight the flow to fulfill God’s unique call in my life. The saying “If you’re not the lead dog, the view is always the same” reminds me I don’t want my life to be one long view of other people’s backs as they lead me farther from God’s plan for me, but neither is my goal to be “lead dog.” I want my life to merge with and diverge from the world's traffic according to God’s map for me.
Lord God, help us stick to Your plan in spite of the honking and angry looks surrounding us. Help us complete all the missions and good works You’ve prepared for each of us along the way. Open our eyes to enjoy the scenery You’ve planned along the way and open our hearts to know and love other travelers You bring to the same places. Help us remain in You so You can produce all the fruit You’ve planted in us. You’ve filled us with Your Love so show us how to be the new creatures who go new directions.
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4;7-8
“Remain in Me, and I will remain in you, No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” John 15:4
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