A man stands atop a steep mountain. Before him is a road that spirals down, long and winding. At the base, a majestic city.
As long as the man follows the path, he will reach the city. But because for road spirals around the mountain, sometimes the city will look close, others the city will look far away. Sometimes he will see others on the same journey that will look closer or further to the destination. But as long as the man follows the path, he will reach the city.
Last week, I discussed how idealism has made us despise and misunderstand the essential role of the journey in our walk with Christ. However, we love taking things to the extreme in our culture so now let’s talk about the essential role of the goal in our walk with Christ.
The world has been afflicted with a horrible case of hopelessness. People, Christians included, have become lost, wandering aimlessly around with no motivation or reason to move forward. This is because of the loss of a real and tangible goal.
Going back to our analogy, let’s say the man is told the city at the bottom of the mountain isn’t real, or told it’s a horrible or just plain boring place. Then what motivation does he have to continue down the mountain? What happens when there is no hope for anything more than an endless road?
That is why it is essential to keep the goal in mind. And what is the goal? Why try to be more Christlike?
I read a book recently that had this statement “there’s nothing particularly appealing about eternal life.” And that’s sadly true due to our perception of eternity and heaven.
The Gnostic thought that heaven will be incorporeal (not physical), where we’ll be ghosts, floating on a cloud and playing a harp, is completely unappealing. And that’s what most Christians think heaven will be like.
Does this mean God created unappealing heaven? Certainly not!
Eternity not just escape to some platonic, ghostly realm called heaven. It’s a real, tangible place where we will rejoice with our Lord in a restored Genesis 1-3 (Revelation 21-22), with fantastic food (Isaiah 25), and all who’ve passed away (Acts 24:21).
We’re standing up on the mountain with a long road before us, but many of us have been sold a lie about the city down below. The journey can only make sense if we change our perception of the goal.
Over the past several years my husband and I have discovered the greatest gift of being a follower of Jesus is we are promised an abundant life here and now! We have come into agreement with this statement from John 10:10 and have experienced this abundant life, despite the circumstances of our crazy world.