by Michael E. Brooks

I arrived back in the United States this week after three months in South Asia. I have endured the normal two days of travel, jet lag, culture shock, and all the by now familiar experiences of my particular version of “mission work”. They have once again reminded me of a number of old truths that have often been well expressed by many more qualified persons than myself, yet remain worthy of frequent repetition.

“Security cannot be achieved by X-rays or body searches.” I for one am willing for airport authorities to do whatever is necessary to guard against terrorism. Yet true security is not a physical matter. “If God is for us who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

“Cultures differ; people remain the same, worldwide.” It is so easy to mistake surface differences for real distinctions between people. So often I hear certain behavior excused because “I’m Bengali” or “That’s the Nepali way,” when in truth, it is just plain sin, common to all people of all places. Dress, language, customs vary, but human nature and needs remain the same. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

“Nothing worthwhile comes without effort.” I feel ashamed to complain about or even notice the “hardships” of modern air travel, knowing the weeks or months of much more difficult travel that was commonplace just a few decades ago among those committed to preaching the gospel. Yet the fact remains that it is an exhausting process to travel long distances. Yet whatever one does that is worth doing requires work. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it” (Luke 14:28).

“Different doesn’t equal new.” There are those infatuated with anything new. Others cling to the traditional. Things new to us may be practiced frequently by people in other places. Things traditional to us would be new to others who have never seen or known them. Difference and newness are neither good or bad in themselves. Practices and beliefs must be proven by another standard, that of truth. “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).