Imagine you are planning a trip to an unfamiliar destination.* You type the destination into your smartphone’s GPS, but when you turn the key, your car doesn’t start. You realize your car has no fuel. While you have all the facts to arrive at your destination, your car has no fuel to get you there.
Now reverse the scenario. Your vehicle is fueled up, but a few miles into your trip, the battery in your smartphone dies. You don’t have a backup GPS or map to navigate you to your destination. In this scenario, all the fuel in your car’s tank will not help you move in the right direction.
Too many Christians and churches are content to travel randomly with little purpose, recklessly expending their fuel. Others are content to spend endless hours in study, learning the exact route to take, but are unmotivated to act (2 John 1:6). Truth gives us direction. Love motivates us to move. Christians need both a map and a motive. In godly love they should be motivated to move, to follow truth to its intended destination.
- You have reached the end of this article preview. This article was published in the Winter 2023 Baptist Bulletin. Subscribe to the Baptist Bulletin or purchase a gift subscription. If you already subscribe to the print edition, sign up for free digital access.
Ken Floyd is the former executive ministry director of the Michigan Association of Regular Baptist Churches. He retired from the role on Dec. 31, 2022.
* The concept for this illustration comes from a message delivered by Mark Dever at a 9Marks conference.
