Stranraer Baptist Church

 Bellevilla Road, Stranraer, DG9 7ED

Travel Agents

A man visits a travel agents to inquire about a holiday to France.  He asks the assistant what the temperature is like in a certain part of France in August.  She looks up a brochure and tells him that it normally sits at 60 degrees F.  Satisfied with that answer he asks for details of the top three hotels.  Fortunately, the assistant had been checking the internet only that morning for this part of France and she confidently gives him lots of relevant information.  Impressed by the woman’s knowledge he then asks about the nightlife.  A quick glance at the brochure again and she tells him of the three nightclubs and the one theatre nearby.  He asks her to give him a feel for the area and she proceeds to read from the brochure about its busy shopping area, its clean beaches, its family-friendly restaurants, and its daily markets.  He was hoping for a more personal touch but it becomes clear that the assistant has never actually been there.  All her information comes second-hand from the brochures and what she can glean from the internet. 

Listening in to this conversation is another customer who interrupts and says how he has visited that area for the past three years.  He proceeds to tell the man all about it.  What a difference!  He describes the taste of the local food, the friendliness of the people, the feel of the warm sand in the hot afternoons, the marvel of the sunsets in the evenings, the sounds of the musicians on the street corners. 

Many people speak of God like a travel agent who has never visited the places they speak of.  Their knowledge is second-hand and impersonal.  There is no first-hand experience.  They are unable to speak of eating of the bread of life, tasting the mercies of God, drinking from the water of life, hearing that still, small voice, feeling the warmth of God’s love, having one’s soul overwhelmed at the majesty of God, or of knowing a heart touched by grace. 

In Ephesians 5:2 the apostle Paul says that “Christ has loved us and given himself for us”.   This is obviously true but in Galatians 2:20 he says a similar thing but notice the difference; “…the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. 

Is your knowledge of God first-hand experience or can you only talk a good talk?  Don’t live off the blessings of other people or simply be impressed by what you read of God in books.  Go to Him and deal with Him personally.  There is all the difference between admiring a picture of a beach in a holiday brochure and feeling the warmth of the sand between your toes.