One of the highlights of my summer was reading Pilgrim’s Progress and discussing it weekly with a group of Goshen brothers. John Bunyan wrote his remarkable allegory about the Christian’s journey home to the Celestial City in 1678. His writing has that old English feel, and yet it is so very timely and relevant today.
A few of major themes in this classic spiritual travelogue are: 1) The book—guidance from God’s book is all-important for staying on the path. 2) Temptations to “go back” keep popping up—to turn away from Jesus and seek comfort in this world’s transitory security. 3) When pilgrims stray from the path and wander into pleasant fields or towns, calamities invariably follow. 4) The life to come—the Celestial City in which all who trust in the King of that place will be thrilled in and by his presence forever—is a magnificent future reality that is always on the pilgrim’s minds. 5) Similarly, the threat of condemnation and eternal exclusion from the presence of the King is a vivid concern. 6) Difficulties along the way are normal—but expect the Lord to use afflictions to wean us from sin and teach us to fix our eyes on him and our heavenly destination. 7) We need one another all along the way, through the many dark valleys and deep waters: to go it alone on life’s great spiritual trek is to invite disaster.
Late in their journey, Christian and Hopeful must travel across the “Enchanted Ground.” “They came into a certain country, whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy, if he came a stranger into it. And here Hopeful began to be very dull and heavy of sleep; wherefore he said unto Christian, ‘I do now begin to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes; let us lie down here, and take one nap.’” But Christian replies that it would be catastrophic to sleep on the Enchanted Ground—you might never wake up!
As I read Pilgrim’s Progress, it struck me that we live in a time and place that can make you spiritually “drowsy”; a world where we can be dull and droopy to the grand reality of God and the fleeting character of today’s pleasures and comforts. Ask yourself: “Does my lifestyle help me stay wide awake to the glorious reality of Jesus Christ, or does it make me yawn at the thought of him?”
