students of jesus

In my college days I delivered pizza to the hungry people of Arlington Heights, Illinois. It was a high calling: affluent over-fed suburbanites needed greasy junk food in 30 minutes or less, and I was just the guy to get it to them. Near the back door of the pizza shop was a huge map of the town. Whenever the delivery order displayed an unfamiliar address I went straight to the map. It was authoritative. It was clear. And I can’t remember a single time when the map was wrong. Today I imagine Google Maps, with its robo-voice, directing pizza-drivers to their destination. But the job is still the same: get there.

Perhaps my pizza experience shaped my faith, because for many years I was all about the destinations. For a while I thought Christianity was mainly about going to heaven—a destination. Later, I thought it was all about putting Christians into political office—also a destination. As a typical North American I became very comfortable with a results-oriented view of the faith. What’s the goal? How do we get there? Let’s get moving.

It turns out I was only half right. The destination is important: you’ve got to pick the right one; but the journey will shape you in ways you never imagined. Here’s a flaw in results-only thinking: the destination is a decision, and decisions are comfortable things because after I’ve made up my mind, there’s no reason to think any more.

Just one example: when Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan he was answering the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The sub-text of his story includes two religiously minded people who were focused more on the destination than the journey. What if God had instructed those two passers-by to go to Jericho because God knew what they would find along the way?

We use the phrase “following Jesus,” but many of us would like it better if he just texted us the address and we used Google Maps to find our own way. Too often, we use the Bible like a Google Maps: our heads down, looking at the screen, ignoring the living guide, Who says, “Look up! Do you see what’s happening on the side of the road?”

There’s nothing wrong with destinations or maps. Both are important. We must choose wisely and consult the right tools. But the map is not the territory, nor is the destination always the point of the journey. We like maps and destinations because they are comfortable and clear.

It’s easy to reduce our walk with Jesus to a destination, and it’s easier still to trust a map instead of a Living Guide. Yet, Jesus said he would not leave us alone. He promised a Comforter—or if you will, a “Spirit guide.” Day-by-day we are tempted to treat the Bible as a map even though the Lord said the Spirit will lead us into all truth (see John 16, especially verse 13). Look closely: we should hear the truth, because a Person speaks it. I trust the Bible, and receive it as a precious gift from God. But I trust the Holy Spirit even more, because he wrote the book; He is alive to the nuance of every step in every journey.

A map will get you where you need to go. A guide will show you things you’ve never seen before.