Monday, December 15, 2014

The Forgotten Path of the Mercy Seeker

The contrast between a desire for relief and the desire for mercy is described by Bunyan in Pilgrim’s departure from the City of Destruction after having been pointed, by a man named Evangelist, to a narrow gate of hope.
Pilgrim’s excitement captures the attention of a man named Pliable who is impressed with the prospect of a Celestial City; and the two of them do quite well until they must wade through the slough of despond. Here the sorrow of the sin-smitten heart stands in stark contrast to the pliable soul which would rather be rid of the sorrow than confront the sin.
“Is this the happiness you told me about,” Pliable scolds…. “If I can get out with my life, you shall posses the brave country without me.” Whereupon, he sloshes to the shoreline of present comfort, leaving Pilgrim to slog forward. But the slogging is not without something good. A man called “Help” meets him and encourages him, perhaps with the kind of encouragement he himself received on his own journey.
In this scene Bunyan unfolds the Biblical pattern of the heart-cry for mercy which brought the publican to the back of the synagogue and a host of others to the feet of Jesus. In so doing he exposes our unbiblical consumerism as we sell the gospel to a pliable intellect rather than a burdened heart and tell people they have received mercy when, in terms of experience, they may just have begun to seek it. Little wonder then that many settle into a carnal christianity, and others abandon the faith with self-righteous bitterness. We have a responsibility to know this path and how to help young believers and Spirit-driven seekers when they struggle through the mire of remembered guilt before our holy God.  


NEXT:  It's a Good Thing the New Birth Is a Work of God's Spirit


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