Some abuse Christianity by giving the impression that all it’s about is having a divine guide through life, which you otherwise basically keep running as you want to. Wrong. Jesus is Lord - He must call the shots. (Which he does with amazing grace and perfect love and wisdom!)
So Christianity is not merely ‘having God as your guide through life’; it’s about salvation and love and life and purpose and restoration. But it’s also definitely not less than that. Who’s guiding you? We need someone.
Guide me O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Many sing a different song though. The theme tune of our contemporary individualised world (far more so in West, but noticeably influencing Africa) is the hugely popular ending of the poem ‘Invictus’ -
Really? Does anyone really believe that? When cancer strikes / when your heart is broken / when your country or your continent or your world seems to be falling apart… you’re the master of your fate, are you?! We’re not. We need a guide who knows what he’s doing.
One might complain that I’m being unfair to the poem. It's about resilience and fortitude in the face of adversity, and it’s stirring and honourable stuff. But it’s still nonsense to claim “I am the master of my fate” - I’m manifestly not! Just try specifying where you’ll be in 10 years’ time and what state you’ll be in. Can you really control that? No. We need a guide who knows what he’s doing, to see us through.
Last Sunday I visited a church in Dakar, and the pastor preached about Jesus as the Supreme Guide. Indeed He’s the only truly reliable guide we’ll ever have. The preacher spoke about the qualities of a good leader or guide - they need to be with you faithfully from beginning to end, need to be experienced and know the route well, and need to be trustworthy.
It made me think of Eric - the brother who so kindly and sacrificially accompanied us on our ‘interesting’ journey from the Gambia to Dakar… (read here) He came to join us, doing the long journey on his own first. He gave lots of energy and time to us. He stuck with us faithfully from beginning to end - never leaving us, always helping us. He knows the journey very well, knew how to direct us at every turn (there are no signposts on these roads!), and knew how to navigate us through the otherwise quite overwhelming and complicated border crossing procedures. Eric proved himself trustworthy and reliable at every hurdle - fighting to get us onto the ferry, finding mechanics when we broke down several times, knowing where to change money, choosing the best route to take.
I was hugely thankful to Eric. I’m even more thankful for what his example illustrates. His excellence as a guide for this journey is but a small picture of the kind of leader and guide we need for life. Only Jesus can do that. Only He will always be with us, always knowing the right way to go, always leading with wisdom and love and mercy. He does so in many ways, as any who follow Him will testify, but supremely through his precious word the Bible.
Mama’s favourite Bible verses speak to us with a powerful blend of warning and promise:
A certain recently inaugurated president (not the Gambian one, who seems to have a bit more self-awareness) declared in his inauguration speech - “I will never, ever let you down.” Erm, yes you will. We will all let each other down, as much as we may aspire not to. It’s called our sinful nature, and we can’t escape it. Yet.
So in this fallen world, we need one who can sympathise with us and who knows our human experience and world, yet one who is above it and beyond it in his character. Only Jesus.
An old chorus invites us:
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
Really? Does anyone really believe that? When cancer strikes / when your heart is broken / when your country or your continent or your world seems to be falling apart… you’re the master of your fate, are you?! We’re not. We need a guide who knows what he’s doing.
One might complain that I’m being unfair to the poem. It's about resilience and fortitude in the face of adversity, and it’s stirring and honourable stuff. But it’s still nonsense to claim “I am the master of my fate” - I’m manifestly not! Just try specifying where you’ll be in 10 years’ time and what state you’ll be in. Can you really control that? No. We need a guide who knows what he’s doing, to see us through.
Last Sunday I visited a church in Dakar, and the pastor preached about Jesus as the Supreme Guide. Indeed He’s the only truly reliable guide we’ll ever have. The preacher spoke about the qualities of a good leader or guide - they need to be with you faithfully from beginning to end, need to be experienced and know the route well, and need to be trustworthy.
It made me think of Eric - the brother who so kindly and sacrificially accompanied us on our ‘interesting’ journey from the Gambia to Dakar… (read here) He came to join us, doing the long journey on his own first. He gave lots of energy and time to us. He stuck with us faithfully from beginning to end - never leaving us, always helping us. He knows the journey very well, knew how to direct us at every turn (there are no signposts on these roads!), and knew how to navigate us through the otherwise quite overwhelming and complicated border crossing procedures. Eric proved himself trustworthy and reliable at every hurdle - fighting to get us onto the ferry, finding mechanics when we broke down several times, knowing where to change money, choosing the best route to take.
I was hugely thankful to Eric. I’m even more thankful for what his example illustrates. His excellence as a guide for this journey is but a small picture of the kind of leader and guide we need for life. Only Jesus can do that. Only He will always be with us, always knowing the right way to go, always leading with wisdom and love and mercy. He does so in many ways, as any who follow Him will testify, but supremely through his precious word the Bible.
Mama’s favourite Bible verses speak to us with a powerful blend of warning and promise:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
A certain recently inaugurated president (not the Gambian one, who seems to have a bit more self-awareness) declared in his inauguration speech - “I will never, ever let you down.” Erm, yes you will. We will all let each other down, as much as we may aspire not to. It’s called our sinful nature, and we can’t escape it. Yet.
So in this fallen world, we need one who can sympathise with us and who knows our human experience and world, yet one who is above it and beyond it in his character. Only Jesus.
An old chorus invites us:
Follow Him! Follow Him!
Yield your life to Him.
He has conquered death; He is King of kings.
Accept the joy that He gives to those
Who yield their lives to Him.
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