I have a friend who has effectively separated himself and his family from the world, from their church, and from their family. They closely guard their children’s exposure to the outside world, which includes their own cousins. They won’t go to church, even the church he grew up in, but instead have home church. They won’t send their children to school, but instead home school. They most recently opted out of their larger-family’s Christmas celebration; I’m not sure if it was to guard against commercialization and secularization of a holy day, or simply to save money. Either way, they missed out on the joy that always surrounds this family at such an important time. I’m sure he has reasons for doing all this, and I’m sure he thinks they’re wise and holy reasons, but it’s hard for me to understand.
My friend’s story reminded me of a scene from “The Last Battle,� the final book of C. S. Lewis’ 7-part Chronicles of Narnia. The world of Narnia is coming to its final days in a struggle of false worship and warfare and deception and intrigue. One by one the inhabitants of Narnia are punished by being thrown into a small dark shed which appears to contain an evil spirit. Once inside the shed, most discovered it to be bigger on the inside than on the outside, for the inside opened up to Aslan’s world and led to, well, heaven itself.
But some who were thrown into the shed never saw Aslan (who represents God in the Chronicles) or the beautiful world; all they saw was darkness. To them, the inside remained nothing but a small dark shed that smelled of barnyard animals. They rebuffed all attempts to open their eyes to the truth. Certain that they’d been deceived by false leaders who claimed to speak for Aslan, they were determined to never be deceived again. They decided never again to believe anyone but each other. “Dwarfs are for dwarfs,� they said, and would not listen to anyone else. Lewis wrote that even Aslan could not reach them because they had “traded cunning over belief.�
It’s so easy to be like those dwarfs; insuring that we won’t be taken in by the evils of the world, we trade cunning over belief.
There’s a danger in thinking we’re the ones who know it all. In fact, as an engineer I must deal with the occupational hazard of assuming I’m the smartest person in the room. I’ve told Cyndi that most engineers come by this opinion honestly, but she just rolls her eyes. And while I may be smart, I have to make it a point to keep my ears open and stay teachable. One of my favorite writers, Natalie Goldberg, wrote, “Don’t always expect to get full understanding from yourself.� We need help from each other.
I’m also at risk of self-delusion, being a guy who reads a lot of books and listens to a lot of sermons and does a lot of research. It’s easy to convince myself I’m the one who knows everything because I’ve done the work. What does anyone else have to offer me? I have to continually ask God to keep my eyes and ears open to new ideas and approaches. It’s one reason I intentionally read a variety of writers and listen to many different speakers. I want to make sure I’m not isolating myself from a message God is trying to send.
The search for understanding isn’t a small thing. Jesus said, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many will try to enter and not be able to …� (Luke 13:22-30) It’s important to get it right. It’s a scary thought that many will try but few will enter. Yet every day we hear people talk about spiritual things but never mentioning Jesus. They’re walking down a spiritual path, but it isn’t the narrow path that leads to Jesus.
Our men’s group has hiked to the top of Guadalupe Peak several times, and there is a trail junction just after the Pine Springs trailhead that’s easy to miss. To the left leads up to the Peak and to the right leads up the Tejas Trail. We’ve taken the wrong trail on more than one occasion, a whole string of guys stopping on the wrong trail and reversing our steps to rejoin the correct trail. We caught our mistake quickly; no harm done.
But if we’d continued on the wrong path, it would’ve taken us further and further from the direction we wanted to go. Finding the correct trail is crucial to a successful hike. And so, in our spiritual search for understanding, we must keep our ears open and listen to each other for advice and direction as we try to navigate the correct path to Jesus.
I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free.� Psalm 119:32
