Pastor and Author Eugene Peterson once said: “The way of faith does not serve our fantasies, our illusions, or our ambitions. Faith is not the way to God on our terms, it is the way of God to us on his terms.” I’ve been thinking a lot about this as I have reflected on many recent interactions with various people who believe that faith is really ours to personalize and define, in the same way that our wardrobe or our exercise routine is. For many, faith that leads to salvation is a personal path cleared with our own perceived tastes, styles and preferences rather than a road that is already paved and striped for traffic.
For many, saving faith really is an unpredictable personal odyssey through any kind of terrain which they alone can travel, and they really expect that all their unique paths will all ultimately arrive at the same destination. However, this personalized trajectory view of faith is sadly naive because even simple reasoning will tell us that carving a path through a jungle, a desert or a forest will not necessarily lead us to the same place, unless of course that destination is a vast, amorphous ocean.
If one’s destination is simply an ocean, then it is conceivably true that if you walk long enough you will end up on a beach. And, many people think of salvation in this way. It’s not uncommon for many to think of heaven or paradise as an ocean of nothingness that we all disappear into like a drop of water that dissolves into a vast ocean. What was once a solitary drop of water in life would in the end cease to be distinct and instead be absorbed by the ocean of eternity in death.
However, the destination, is not really an ocean that we all disappear into, a collective body of nothingness for the duration of time. Rather, the destination is paradise lost, a heavenly city with actual walls and boundaries. It’s boundaries are set and its location static somewhere in the universe. Though we cannot perceive it’s presence with fallen eyes, we know with conviction that she is there. She is the City of God, and she is beautiful.
So, here’s the thing. If the destination is a glorious city and not a vast ocean, then all the walking in the world will not land us there unless we walk in the right direction. No, if we walk aimlessly, then we will eventually find the beach and drown in the ocean or we will simply get exhausted and quit along the way. And, here’s the sad truth. Too many travelers have found the ocean and drowned and too many others have collapsed and given up along the way. In creating their own path, they have wandered into dense jungles where they are consumed, or they have gone into dry deserts where they have perished or they have ventured into thick forests where they have lost their way, and the relative few who have found the beach are devastated when they get there and find out that they cannot even drink the water. They can only drown in it. No, those few who have wandered long enough to get where they are going unfortunately only find that there’s really nothing there.
This is the tragic story of humanity today. There is a glorious city where the gates are open and the joys are endless, but the masses aren’t looking for it. Even when they are given the map and pointed in the right direction, they insist on taking their own path and choosing their journey for themselves, despite the fact that word has come back to us that the ocean of nothingness awaiting them is not worth finding.
That word of warning was given to us by Jesus himself who cautiously warned all the world about what actually lies beyond the vines of the jungle, the sands of the deserts and the trees of the forest. Jesus told us that there is only death and destruction in every other direction. And yet, so many don’t hear it or simply don’t want to. They just cannot stand the fact that the road to the City could really be that obvious or that all the other paths could really be that devastating. Jesus told us about the path, about the way to the City and He pointed all people in the right direction.
Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” Jesus told us that He is the door, the gate, the way and the path to the great City and that all who enter the City of God though him will enjoy her comforts and pleasures for all of eternity. Jesus, is the cleared path. He is the unlocked door. Jesus is the way to the City and all we need to do is believe that his instructions are true, that his promises are real, that his directions are right.
I, for one, choose to believe him and am on my way to the City. And, I can’t, for the life of me, understand why so many others go the other way, why people purposely choose the path of exhaustion, emptiness and death. The only solace I can take in knowing this sad reality is that Jesus himself knew it would happen. He knew and told us that most people would not listen, that most would not believe and that most would choose to go in the wrong direction. He told us, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” I truly hope that you will listen, believe and be among the few who take the way to the City.
