Journeying

Allow me to pass on to you a thought that I have to often remember to keep myself aligned with my beliefs:

The Journey is not in the going but in the being in the way.

I like to travel, especially taking long drives where I haven’t been before. But I’ve recognized that I have an inclination to get caught up in the destination and not in the journey and thus miss what is along the way. My favorite memories tend to be of journeys interrupted, when the car broke down, when there was an unexpected stop or I was forced to see the near instead of the distant. I’ve spent too much of life in a hurry, doing what I needed to to complete the tasks at hand and missing the small things. Years ago my wife gave me a little calligraphy piece she had done that said,

“Forgiveness is the scent of the violet on the heel that crushed it.”

I’ve kept that little piece as a reminder not to miss the essence of what can easily be missed when rushed. And yes, it does also apply to forgiveness being something not to be rushed through but to be experienced.

I remember hearing someone a couple years ago talking about how positive the Ten Commandments were. I was immediately curious and perked up my hearing. His point was that they were misemphasized by putting the strength on the “Thou shall NOT…” rather than the “Thou SHALL not…” By changing the emphasis to the SHALL they immediately become affirmations rather than denunciations – the emphasis being on the positive traits:

having only one God’s image in my heart and mind

serving only one God

speaking only the truth of and about God

remembering what God says is distinctive

honoring what God says

being a life-giver

being pure

being giving

being truthful

being content

This becomes a reminder of Being rather than Doing, of being in the journey with Him rather than doing to be acceptable. It is an affirmation of His ability to change me rather than me changing myself.

There is a reference to Jesus in Hebrews 10 to Jesus which I try to remind myself of often as an example of His motivation for a God-pleasing life:

5. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;

6. in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

7. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'”

8. When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),

9. then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

10. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.¹

What starts out about “doing” sacrificial things is quickly passed over as not what God wants and Jesus (who is the One spoken of) moves on to what does please His Father. “I have come to do your will” is not a work list like many of us make it but instead a heart list.

The “… as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.” is a reference back to a Messianic Psalm 40 which reads,

6. In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

7. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

8. I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” ²

 

There is a certain freeing that comes with “doing from the heart” rather than out of condemnation for being evil or wrong. “Delight”-ing is so much more liberating than being driven to measure up. There is another glimpse into the “freeing” in the “open ear” reference in verse 6. While we have a very distasteful view of some of the ancient customs, we need context. This reference isn’t about hearing but rather a commitment. In Exodus 21 when Moses is giving God’s social structure for the Israel society, there is a stipulation regarding those who become indebted and are serving another Israelite to work off the debt,

2. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing…

5. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

6. then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.³

 

Do you see the “open ear”, the sign that the ‘slave’ is committing to his master out of love for the master and giving the master permission to open (bore) his ear as a sign to all that he loves his master and will be his forever? There is a world – or in this case, a heaven – of difference in doing a duty and loving the One you serve, the difference of Being first and the doing flowing out of the relationship.

 

FOOTNOTES:

¹ Heb 10:5-10 ESV Cited 17 Jun 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/exo/20/1/s_70001.
² Psa 40:6-8 ESV Cited 17 Jun 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/exo/20/1/s_70001.
³ Exo 21:2, 5-6 ESV Cited 17 Jun 2025. https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/exo/20/1/s_70001.