Any distance, any time

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching [and] preaching the gospel. — Matthew 9:35

For several years, I’ve corresponded with a pastor in Nepal who often travels with his church members to distant communities in the Himalayas to preach and plant churches. Recently he sent me his itinerary for the following week and asked me to pray.

His busy schedule revealed that over the course of a week he planned to travel by motorcycle about 160 kilometers (100 miles) to several cities to preach and hand out gospel tracts.

I wondered at the great distances my friend would cover over mountainous terrain, and I wrote to ask how he was holding up. He replied, “We had a wonderful time of marching in the mountains with our church members. All do not have motorcycles . . . so we all walked. It was a blessed time. Still more places to go.” And then I was reminded of how “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 9:35).

I thought of my reluctance to drive across town in the snow to visit a lonely widower; to walk across the street to help a neighbor; to answer a knock on the door from a needy friend when I’m busy; to go any time, any place, any distance for the sake of love. And I thought of our Lord, for whom no distance was too great.                           — David Roper

Christ traveled to the earth below

And left behind His throne above;

No distance was too great for Him

Because He was compelled by love.

                                                    — Sper

READ: Matthew 9:35-38

What God gave to us,

He wants us to share.

The Bible in one year:

• Psalms 91-93