Pursuing a Dangerous Quest
Good stuff from John Eldredge:
Either we wake to tackle our “to do” list, get things done, guided by our morals and whatever clarity we may at the moment have (both rather lacking to the need, I might add); or we wake in the midst of a dangerous Story, as God’s intimate ally, following him into the unknown.
If you’re not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well, then, you don’t need a Guide. If you haven’t found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won’t need a seasoned Captain. If you’ve settled in your mind to live as though this is a fairly neutral world and you are simply trying to live your life as best you can, then you can probably get by with the Christianity of tips and techniques. Maybe. I’ll give you about a fifty-fifty chance. But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life he offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be. There are too many twists and turns in the road ahead, too many ambushes waiting only God knows where, too much at stake. You cannot possibly prepare yourself for every situation. Narrow is the way, said Jesus. How shall we be sure to find it? We need God intimately, and we need him desperately.
“You have made known to me the path of life,” David said (Ps. 16:11). Yes-that’s it. In all the ins and outs of this thing we call living, there is one narrow path to life, and we need help finding it. (Waking the Dead, p. 95)
August 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Great thoughts! I loved that book “Waking the Dead”. I was cleaning out a locker of someone who had left the homeless recovery center where I was working and that book was left in the locker. That was an odd way of finding the book and I found it to be considerably inspiring! God has strange and wonderful ways! Think I might have to read it again…
August 27th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I need to find that book and read it. Interesting that this subject follows the one about how powerful and effective prayer is. I would like to see the church bodies throughout this country start praying like their lives depended on it. (Oh yeah…it does.)