Changing Directions

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It is easy to swerve off the road when conditions are bad. Even the most experienced driver can lose control when the elements are against them. 

We often think we are headed the right way when suddenly a storm hits, and we second-guess our choices. The way forward seems impossible; a detour seems easier, or what if we just turned around instead?

Our life journey with Jesus can seem like this. The way forward often has resistance; the Christian life is not easy. We think, “What if I just went back?” Yet to go back is a dead end; the only way is forward. We have been that way before, and there isn’t anything worth going back to. It’s just ashes breezing through our fingers compared with the reward ahead of us. The reward is Christ Himself, finally seen with all of our senses, no longer veiled and hidden.

But the way backwards often seems like a good idea. We can be walking forward and still thinking about life “back there.” We essentially are living there anyway, and we are at risk of turning our feet around if we don’t see what we are doing.

However, the Spirit helps us see reality. The Comforter is a witness to our heart and the often-unseen movements it makes. We are often out of touch with what we are doing, yet the Spirit lovingly confronts us. Because God is love, it is done lovingly despite our not loving the confrontation itself. J. Heinrich Arnold once wrote:

We have to love everything in Jesus—his sharpness and his compassion. If we love his sharpness, then our hearts will be purified and pruned; but we could not live if his love, compassion, and mercy were not still greater.

The sweetness of His mercy makes the unmasking of the rotten fibers under our surfaces palpable and even cathartic. It feels good to finally see under the hood despite the discomfort. But yes, the work we face to get it cleaned up seems daunting and impossible to accomplish. Thankfully, there is an abundance of grace running over us while it all happens. It is not with our power that the mess is swept away; it is God’s.

God is the good Father who has arms always open to us and our need. When we see clearly that His house is a far better place to be, we run home to grovel to who we perceive God to be: a stern, angry parent. Yet instead, we find a Father who runs out to embrace us while we are still very far away from the door to His house. And like the prodigal son, we are in shock at His kindness and favor where before we expected a harsh response. To love in truth is to embrace what the truth is, but even more so the truth is a Person who first embraces us before we understand what is happening. 

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