traveling, debt, responsibility, obedience, trust, living the dream

Here's an issue I'm wrestling with right now and I'd appreciate any thoughts you guys have. I think its something relevant to a lot of college students:


Hey Pastor Steve,

I'm struggling a bit with a question. This year I have a lot of plans to take trips of varying length from smaller trips like senior high camp to larger ones like Israel. However, as I have these plans and ideas, I can't help but feel a sort of tension in my conscience. It is such a privilege to be able to travel; it's something that not everyone has the chance to do. At church today there were people praising that they had jobs, and here I am trying to get time off. I'm not even completely confident that I can afford all the traveling, but I'm sure if I just take out school loans and such I can make it work. Yet its not even the trips themselves that cost money, its also the fact that taking trips means I don't get to work and make money (this is especially true during the summer). Now, I know making money isn't everything, but I get the sense that working and making money is a responsible thing to do, if nothing else, making more money means that we can be more generous with it. My bottom-line question is how do I be obedient to God in making these traveling plans? Is it ok to "take advantage of the opportunities that I have" or is that just a worldly way of looking at things? I hope you get a sense of what I'm asking, even if its not completely clear. Thanks for your guidance.

Maddie

Hi Maddie,

Yeah, I understand your struggle. The short answer is, there's a season for everything. You have the rest of your life to "be responsible" and hold a job and make money and be generous, etc. Going to senior high camp and Israel aren't exactly every day opportunities that you can count on having the rest of your life. But I would say this. As you travel and as you don't work as much, be sure to learn to be generous with what income you do have, so that when you have more income the habit of generosity is already established. And as you travel, spend responsibly and be a gracious guest, so that when you're not traveling you are able to live responsibly and offer gracious hospitality. Avoid as much debt as possible. Never let yourself get so indebted that you feel like you can't afford to be generous. Ultimately we trust in God to provide for us, so while we calculate and take debt seriously, debt is not our Lord.

Finally, you have to live so surrendered to God that you're willing to not go, if you think God is checking you on it, and also so surrendered that you're willing to go, if you feel like God is leading you to go. Once you're that surrendered in both directions, often times things get a little clearer and peace comes with whichever decision you feel led to make.

There's a time to travel, and there's a time to grow roots. The Lord will help you to discern what time it is, And the Lord will give you peace.

Hope this helps, gray (or colorful) as it is.

Pastor Steve