By Grant Crichton on May 13, 2023.
I want to share a story. One day these two fellas were walking down a road. Suddenly another showed up and walked with them. They invited him to their house for supper, and after he prayed and broke bread apart, they realized who this was; a rather significant person named Jesus. This Grant Paraphrase Edition (GPE) is taken from Luke 24:13-35. Sometimes it’s known as the ‘Road to Emmaus’, in which Christ shows up and journeys with these men while walking. Today let us be reminded that you and I are on a journey. We are in process. We are not “there” yet. We are on the road. And friends, THAT IS OK. I want to encourage you to embrace the journey that you are on. When I played football at University, the head coach would say “The goal is not the end of the road. The goal is the road. The joy in life is in living it.” Sometimes we feel we have to “have arrived” to be worth anything. Even to be loved by the Lord, we may feel have to have ourselves all together. Friend, you are a masterpiece (Psalm 139:14) being daily molded by God. Allow Christ to work in you. You are going to slip up on the road. That’s a guarantee. But God’s grace is sufficient for you. His mercies are new every morning. We can be forgiven, pick ourselves up, and try to live repentance once more. We get so wrapped up in the idea that we have to know it all right now. That we have to have it all together, right now. That we have to be worthy, right now. But He just asks us to come to Him as we are, in humility. We go to Him because we are unworthy. But as St Paul tells us, this doesn’t give us licence to go on sinning (Romans 6:1-2), but rather I encourage you to see this as a breath of fresh air- that you are being worked on and molded with each new day. You are clay in the hands of the potter, being shaped into who He has created you to be! Grant Crichton is the associate pastor for Victory Lutheran Church 10