The Road Less Taken

I've found that many times in Christianity the truth is somewhere on a fine line right down the middle of the road. It's often easy to travel down that road and fall off to the right or to the left. I would say, for instance, that the Bible teaches that wives are to submit to their husbands. To fall off that road to the left is to say, "And husbands are to submit to their wives. There is no authority in Christianity. Everyone must submit to everyone." On the right we have, "Therefore, husbands have absolute right over their wives. Wives are of no value and must meekly submit to her their husbands every whim." Both miss the point. One of these "fine line right down the middle of the road" things is a problem for me, and I am confessing it here.

There are those who are facts-oriented and those who are emotion-oriented. The emotion-oriented folks love to love God. They love the feelings He induces. They are enraptured with Him. They hear special things from the Holy Spirit, things that sometimes violate what is clearly in the Word. That's okay. They're in love with God, and they get their marching orders from Him, not from some cold, sterile book. They walk by faith, not by sight. The facts-oriented person rises up against this. "Stop! Thus saith the Lord ..." and proceeds to quote passages from the Bible. The facts-oriented person sees the reasons and logic and rationality behind faith. They believe, but they believe largely because it makes such good sense. They're often found in apologetics venues fending off atheists and heretics alike.

What we find, however, is that Christianity, in this case, is not an "either/or" proposition. (Sorry, you facts-oriented folks.) As it turns out, the Bible suggests that it is "both/and" in this case. The truth is that Christianity is based on facts -- real, hard facts. Man is sinful -- fact. Christ died for our sins -- fact. He rose from the dead -- fact. We can be saved by faith in Christ's atonement for us -- fact. It is vital that we know and believe certain facts. But it is imminently possible to hold to each and every fact and not be saved. How? Because Christianity is more than a pile of facts with which to concur. It is a relationship with the Truth, the person of Jesus Christ.

This is an easy line to fall off. Fall off to one side and you're back in the mysticism realm to the exclusion of creeds and the mind. Fall off on the other side and you're back in the world of facts without spiritual life. The reality of it is a sharp line right down the middle of that lane. We need the facts. I am commanded to love the Lord with all of my mind. I am commanded to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. I am dedicated to a godly use of the mind. And yet, there is the other side that cannot be ignored. The mind, you see, like the heart, is "desperately wicked". The only way we can arrive at the truth is exactly by the working of the Holy Spirit. He reveals truth to us. And without a living relationship with Christ, we don't have the Holy Spirit and any truth we might discover on our own without the Spirit is dead truth -- of no value.

I remember an illustration I heard years ago. A husband comes home after work. It's his anniversary, so instead of going inside, he rings the doorbell. His wife, puzzled, comes to the door. "Surprise!" he says and produces a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. Then, "And here's a gift for my dear wife," and he produces a nicely wrapped box in the other hand with a card that says nice things. She is surprised and delighted. "Okay," he says, "now go get dressed. I've made reservations for us at your favorite restaurant." She is nearly in tears with happiness. "Oh, honey, what made you do all this?" she asks. He answers, "It's my duty as a husband." Of course, now it won't be a happy anniversary, he likely won't be eating dinner with her at her favorite restaurant, and, if he's lucky, he'll be sleeping on the couch, not in the doghouse with the dog. You see, it is his duty, but that's not the motivation that pleases. What she wants to hear is something like, "Oh, my dear wife, I just couldn't help myself. I am so in love with you that I had to do it."

We need hard facts in our Christian faith. There are reasons for what we believe. There is evidence and logic and rationality. To ignore all of this would not merely be unwise; it would be wrong. We are commanded to engage our minds. On the other hand, to focus purely on these aspects is to make Christianity a duty, a cold set of knowledge. Instead we are called to be the Bride of Christ, to be in love with Jesus. We are to be engaged in a relationship with Him, filled with the Spirit and, yes, engaged in a mystical ride with God that produces new depths of information and new heights of enjoyment in His presence. We dare not exclude one for the other. This is one of those unusual "both/and" situations. Enjoy the ride.