Paul has spent most of Romans explaining the gospel. Now, near the end of the letter, he begins telling the Roman Christians what he hopes to do next... And Paul is thinking big.

He believes God has called him to take the good news of Jesus into places where Christ has not yet been proclaimed. He looks back over years of ministry and recognizes that God has worked through his preaching, his actions, and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring Gentiles into the family of God. Paul even describes that ministry using the language of worship: the Gentiles themselves have become an offering to God, “made acceptable by the Holy Spirit” (v. 16). That keeps Paul’s confidence from becoming self-congratulation. He doesn’t boast about everything he has accomplished. He speaks about “what Christ has accomplished through me” (v. 18).

Paul has worked hard. He has traveled enormous distances, preached in difficult places, endured opposition, planted churches, and taught new believers. Yet his testimony remains that Christ is the one accomplishing the work.

Anyone trying to serve God faithfully should pay attention to Paul's posture. We participate. We obey. We speak. We give. We go. But God is the one who brings life from our obedience.

Now Paul wants to keep going. His eyes are set on Spain, which would have represented something close to the western edge of his known world. Rome could become a place of encouragement and partnership as the gospel continued moving outward. There’s only one problem. Paul isn’t headed west... He’s going east.

Before Rome and before Spain, Paul is returning to Jerusalem carrying a financial gift collected from Gentile churches for believers there who are struggling. At first, that can look like an interruption in Paul's larger missionary plans. Paul wants to carry the gospel toward new territory, but first he must carry an offering toward Jerusalem. Yet the two missions belong together.

Throughout Romans, Paul has insisted that in Christ, Jewish and Gentile believers belong to one family. Now that theology is becoming wonderfully practical. Gentile Christians who have received spiritual blessings rooted in God's work through Israel are caring for Jewish Christians in material need. The gospel Paul preaches is becoming visible in generosity. This is part of mission too.

We sometimes imagine participating in God's mission primarily as going somewhere, preaching something, starting something, or accomplishing something visible. But mission also looks like carrying someone else's burden. It looks like generosity between believers who might otherwise remain divided. It looks like churches supporting one another because Christ has made them one family.

And then Paul adds one more piece. “Join me in my struggle by praying to God for me” (v. 30). Paul knows the road ahead will be difficult. He doesn't pretend confidence in his calling means there will be no opposition. He asks the church to participate through prayer. So Paul has a dream of Spain, a responsibility in Jerusalem, a hoped-for partnership in Rome, and no guarantee that any of it will unfold according to plan. We know from Acts that it won’t.

Paul will eventually reach Rome, but certainly not the way he imagines here. His trip through Jerusalem will involve arrest, imprisonment, trials, a dangerous voyage, and shipwreck. As for Spain, we simply don't know whether Paul ever arrived. Yet God's mission continued. There is something freeing about that.

Faithfulness doesn't require us to know exactly how the whole story will unfold. Sometimes God places a destination on our hearts that gets us moving, while the work God accomplishes along the way becomes far more important than we could have anticipated.

Paul dreamed about Spain. Before he could get there, he carried an offering to Jerusalem. He asked Christians in Rome to pray. And somewhere in the middle of those plans, he wrote them a letter explaining the gospel that the Church is still reading nearly two thousand years later.

We often want God to show us the whole road. We want to know whether the ministry will succeed, whether the opportunity will open, whether the relationship will be restored, or whether the dream will ever become reality. Romans 15 gives us a better posture. Look toward where God may be leading, but faithfully take the step God has placed in front of you.

Christ is still accomplishing his work through ordinary acts of obedience. The Holy Spirit is still making holy what we offer to God. And we are not walking alone—the Church participates together through service, generosity, encouragement, and prayer.

We may not know where every road will lead. We can still take the next faithful step.

Name one thing you believe God is calling you toward, then ask: What is the next faithful step I can take today? Take that step, even if you cannot yet see how the larger plan will unfold.