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.
PREVIOUS: Mercy Is About Identifiable Guilt
NEXT: It's a Good Thing the New Birth Is a Work of God's Spirit
No comments:
Post a Comment