Should I stay or should I go?

It seems that there is a restlessness in most human beings: an urge to grow, to develop, to explore, to move, to break free, to peek around the corner, to go beyond the horizon. It can take on any shape, really: learning a new language, changing careers, going on an adventure, making more money, moving house/city/country. The list can go on and on, each item as unique as the person who longs for it.

Often, as Christians, we can see this urge as either a call of God or a worldly distraction, depending on what we see as Godly or worldly. And so the question arises: "Should I stay or should I go?" (where 'to stay' means to remain in the status quo, and 'to go' means to change something). And, often times in my experience, God remains oddly silent on the subject. Annoyingly so.

We have come to love and appreciate the "universal short answer" or the "catchy catch phrase" that "resonates with me at the moment." It's easy to say that the answer to the question about staying or changing is always to "just go for it," because "if you shoot for the moon and miss, you'll end up among the starts..." and die an agonising death; cold, alone, and far from your loved ones (if I can take this expression a bit too far).

Sometimes it's good to wait where you are. Like the disciples did after Jesus was taken into heaven. Or like the Israelite exiles were encouraged to do in Jeremiah 29. Sometimes it is good to move, to change. Like the Israelites were told to do when Moses led them out of Egypt. Like Paul and Peter and the first missionaries did after being filled with the Holy Spirit. There is no universal answer to the question: "Should I stay or should I go?" The answer is as unique as each of our own circumstances.

The universal answer, though, is to know Jesus. Not just know of Him, but to know Him personally. And through His love and sacrifice we are able to so freely. Paul was quite passionate about this:
"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
Philippians 3:8-11 (NIVUK)

Here's the kicker: if the choices we face and decisions about the future we have to make become more important than knowing Jesus, we're missing the point. Nothing will ever be more important than knowing Jesus. This doesn't mean, however, that we can shirk our responsibilities "for the sake of knowing Jesus." Decisions need making, yes. We are responsible for our choices, yes. But knowing Jesus intimately might just influence those choices in a way that we can never foresee or understand, to the glory of His name.

So, should I stay or should I go? It doesn't matter as much as knowing Jesus, who, by the way, knows the answer to that specific question.