“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you’” (Genesis 12:1).

This week, my family moved again to another city in the lower mainland in Greater Vancouver. It is our third move in 3 years. Each time we shift, we head East. This is because property prices in the West are increasingly unaffordable. For those of you who think that we’re insane, what we’re doing is nothing compared to the year 2004. Back then we manage 4 moves in 1 year, one of them across the Pacific Ocean!

Still, I hate to move. Each time it happens, I have to pause my normal work, re-prioritize my reading/writing commitments, re-schedule my appointments, and much more. I joke with my wife that each time we move, we find some things, and we lose some. Moving frequently involves double the work. For instance, we have to clean two houses. We have to pack our stuff in the old house, and unpack our stuff in the new house. We have to stop the electric and gas utilities in one house and start them in another house. We move so much that I’m glad some of my stuff remains in boxes, ready to be moved at anytime.

I can’t help but feel that amid all the craziness, there is something to be learned here. I think about the patriarch Abraham. Often heralded as a man of faith, I see glimpses of why Abraham’s ancient step of faith is still a popular model for modern times. With that in mind, here are 3 lessons I’ve learned about moving:

A) Moving is a Step of Faith

Following God’s direct instruction to Abraham, the Scriptures record an amazing step of obedience. “So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran” (Genesis 12:4).

What obedience! What a prompt response! What a step of faith! There’s no mention of Abraham bargaining with God about what was required. There’s no request to delay his departure for an unknown land. There’s no explicit question from Abraham about where his destination is going to be.

For my family, we struggle a lot with each move. We deliberate over the pros and cons. We consider the impact on our children. We pray over how it will affect our daily commute and our links to the neighborhood. Truth is, we cannot imagine behaving like Abraham, who simply “went forth.”

Abraham was 75 years old when he left the land of Ur. All in all, he had about 70 people with him. For me to move the stuff for 5 people is already a tall order. Imagine 70! That’s 14 times the size of my family. Just think of the logistics. Perhaps, back then, there wasn’t as much stuff. No computers. No books. No big furniture items or electronics or electrical appliances to care about. Still, simply put, moving with 70 people was no simple feat.

B) Moving into Unfamiliar Territory

It boggles my mind to think about someone traveling with 70 dependants to an unknown destination. All he knew was that the Lord would show him the new land. There was no itinerary. There was no clear destination point. There was no guarantee of how they were going to survive the unknown. Despite this, Abraham left in obedience.

In our modern times, we move only when things are certain. We do our budgeting. We make meticulous plans. I remember one student who contacted me via email just before coming to Canada to study at Regent College. She had everything planned out to the very last detail. How long to stay. Budget for every single detail, from housing to tuition fees; from banking to various logistics. She peppered me with all kinds of questions to the point that I felt she had a problem with living with uncertainty.

In an Internet Age, where Google can feed us all kinds of information, we’re increasingly reliant on information technology for security. If we can’t find it on Google, we may even panic. We’re living in times where the uncertain, the unfamiliar, and the unknown are increasingly unacceptable for daily living. Faith, however, requires us to step into the unknown. It causes us to swim often in unfamiliar territory. In uncertain situations, faith extends a hand for us to take. Here’s the hard truth. As far as faith is concerned, being too careful can be an act of “un-faith.” It can even lead to failure.

The OMF Missionary Oswald Sanders once said: “A great deal more failure is the result of the excess of caution than of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.”

Jesus says: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).

In order for growth, we sometimes need to take a leap of faith. Without allowing ourselves to die to self, how else can we free ourselves from the kingdom of self? Only then can we be ready to move into the unknown.

C) Getting Ready to Move

As believers in Jesus, we’re called to be God’s agents for heralding the kingdom of God in heaven and on earth. We often state this truth as we pray the Lord’s prayer. Unfortunately, too many people are simply complacent with their present stability. They hate change so much that they’re willing to forgo an opportunity to take a leap of faith, choosing instead to lean on fate.

For the Christian, we’re called to take the adventure of faith. This is best done by inculcating in ourselves an attitude, a readiness, to move when we’re called. This readiness is what prepares each of us to take a step of faith into the unknown.

D) A Holy Urgency

We need a holy urgency to make known the kingdom of God in our lives. Otherwise, we become stagnant in our Christian walk. We’re complacent if we think that what we’ve known in the past will suffice for the future. Martin Luther once said that every believer ought to live each day as if Jesus died yesterday, was resurrected today, and will come again tomorrow. A holy urgency will lead to holy action as we strive to obey a Holy God. We can’t let our desire for stability overwhelm holy urgency. The former (desire for stability) easily chokes our spiritual hunger, deceives us with a false sense of security, and weakens our desire to share the Good News. The latter (holy urgency) increases our longing for God, clarifies that only faith in Christ is eternal security, and strengthens our resolve to be disciples of Jesus.

Moving is hard. It can be frustrating. It’s one of the biggest stressors in life. Yet, it’s also a leap of faith. A step into the unknown. The truth is, change is inevitable. If we don’t change now, we might be forced to change later. If that’s the case, why don’t we take the leap of faith sooner instead of later? The need for holy urgency is powerfully given by Jesus in these words: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it” (Matthew 16:25).

There are far too many people in churches who choose to play it safe. They despise change. They don’t want to venture into new territory. In fact, people who stubbornly refuse to change their mindset are most vulnerable to “forced change” in the future.

Helen Keller writes: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

I am no super saint. Neither do I see my move as a big example in terms of faith. What I can say is that faith requires us to keep moving, even to unfamiliar territory. Keep getting ready to move, with the Holy Spirit as your Guide. Keep a good sense of holy urgency with God’s kingdom foremost in mind.

That said, I hope not to move again anytime soon. But, again, life is unpredictable, right?  —submitted by Conrade Yap, Canada