I
was driving from California to Texas some years back. I was a young wanderer,
living that “Bobby McGee” kind of freedom—you know, nothing left to lose. I was
alone and very sleep-deprived, zoning out for miles at a time. I had made the
drive so many times that I could do it with my eyes closed, and almost tried a
couple of times. This time, however, I ran into a bit of a snag. There in the
middle of the desert, at a crossroads with a gas station, a diner, and a stop
light, I faced a sign that read “Road Closed: Detour.” “No biggie,” I thought,
“I’ll be back on track in a few miles.” Famous last thoughts…
Miles
and miles went by and I never saw another detour sign to get me back on my intended
journey. Before long I started seeing signs for towns that I’d never heard of,
or that I knew were nowhere near the direction I needed to be going. And the distance wasn’t 14 miles or 25 miles—we’re
talking 183 miles to these places. I was just whizzing past desert scrub—a
cactus here, a Joshua tree there, the occasional scraggly palm, sage hills
around me and endless blacktop in front of me.
It was a never-ending two-lane
highway through the Twilight Zone. Now it was 30 minutes since I detoured…now 45
minutes…now an hour. I had abandoned all hope that I would ever actually see
another detour sign. But I kept thinking surely I would come to a town where I
could get directions and get back on track.
My heart leaped into my throat as I realized I hadn’t checked my gas gauge in a
while. I actually thought about it before looking at it, as if not knowing how
much gas I had (or didn’t have) might be better—at least I wouldn’t start
worrying about that too. But I looked
and, sure enough, there was my little needle rubbing flirtatiously up against
the red zone. And there I was, in the middle of nowhere, running out of gas and
heading for Mexico!
There
are two crucial understandings in such a situation. First, one must understand
what it is to be lost. Second, one must understand what it is to be found. This
is, in a very broad sweep, the biblical story and the life of faith. The fallen
world is notorious for evading that first issue, continuing to willfully careen
down a highway to hell, even sometimes calling it “the good life.” But the
people of God are notorious for evading the second issue, continuing to sit on
our hands in our holy huddle, choking on a list of superficial do’s and don’ts
and calling it “holiness.”
It's like Jesus was getting us into heaven--
and heaven into us--before we die.
What is it to be found? What
are we supposed to be doing? Why don’t we just step into heaven after we “get
saved”? Is that the point, getting into heaven? Or
is being a Christian only about making the world a better place? What is holiness, anyway? We have planted all
sorts of “detour signs” in response to these questions: Legalism; Last Days;
Liberation; Left Behind; Tolerance; Turn-or-Burn; Christian hedonism; Desert asceticism;
Apocalypse Now; Apocalypse Never; One Way; Many Ways; I’ll Fly Away, O Glory!
God
is big, his plans are big, and it is never safe to claim a monopoly on the
truth. Nevertheless, it seems clear that many today have a
limited-to-non-existent awareness that something really happened upon Jesus’
resurrection, something more than proving that there is life after death and showing
how to get to heaven when we die.
It’s almost as if Jesus was bringing heaven to
us. It's like he was getting us into heaven—and heaven into us—before we die. It was a whole new thing. For the
wanderers who will turn onto that road it becomes a whole new creation; indeed,
they become a whole new creation.
To be continued...
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