We live in a tension between being in the moment and engaging with life, whether that be work, mission and the people we love, and yet realising we haven’t yet arrived. This is only temporary. We are passing through this world.
“This is the account of Terah’s family line.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. 30 Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.” (Genesis 11 v 27-32)
Granted, not every dream should be followed nor every journey taken, but the opportunity for Canaan is one not to miss. Canaan, the Old Testament Promised Land, is the shadow of what the New Testament calls the heavenly country, our eternal place.
Terah took his family to Canaan but settled in Haran.
Settled is always a good word if that was your destination.
“I am settled in my new job”
But if it is meant only to be a stopping-off place, it can become a place of compromise, a place where we give up on the journey, a place of dying dreams.
What have you settled for that has stopped you from journeying to Canaan?
A friendship? Money? Sin? Tiredness? The list goes on.
What makes Haran dangerous is its reasonableness. You can build a life there. You can rationalise staying. “This is good enough,” we tell ourselves, and the voice sounds mature, practical, wise—even as something within us quietly dies.
Our settlements don’t just affect us; they shape the landscape for those who come after us. When we stop short, we normalise stopping short. When we settle, we teach settling. But our determination to press on can also inspire others to refuse lesser destinations.
This world is not our destination; it is a stopping off place. We are journeying through. We are only here for a short time. It was meant to be. So don’t settle. Look ahead. Keep journeying. Keep looking. Expectant. Hopeful. All that you are and all that you do here is for there. Don’t let go. Don’t give up. Don’t settle.
Missions Paul 