To travel internationally is to make mistakes.
Mine are made in every category imaginable: mistakes in language, social etiquette, public decorum—you name it. I'm sure I've managed to embarrass myself a dozen different ways as I've traveled recently through Turkey, Romania and Ghana.
Navigating airport terminals, I'm intrigued with the incredible difference that a tiny word change can make in the finesse of language and communication.
For example, flying Turkish airlines to Istanbul, we repeatedly heard cabin announcements as follows: “Ladies and gentlemen and dear kids….” I loved the “dear kids” reference. Charming. Yet it made me think—do we really see our children as “dear”? Or are they often simply a drain on us?
Flying out of the Bucharest airport, I heard the following message over the P.A. System: “Passengers are urgently invited to board flight number….” At first, the announcement struck me as quaint, even cute. In the U.S, we don't “urgently invite” anyone to do anything. We would urgently request but not “urgently invite.”
The slight difference is telling.
Peering out the window of Germany's Frankfurt airport, I noodled on all of this. Consider the language of Revelation 3:20—an “announcement” of sorts from Jesus Himself. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
Notice that Jesus makes no demands—here, or anywhere—in Scripture. He extends the indescribably urgent offer of eternal life—but simply “knocks” at the door. Elsewhere He says “Whoever is thirsty, let him come.” But again, no demands.
You might say, Jesus “urgently invites.” But He never demands. The choice is always ours.
What kind of choices are YOU making about Jesus?