The Test

It’s been a … long … time since I’ve posted any new blogs.  To be quite honest with you, I have a hard enough time trying to reply to emails, write sermons, develop mid-week lessons, write articles, and actually respond to “snail mail,” let alone try to write blog entries.  I’m not a “facebooker” yet, nor do I twitter.  Eventually I’ll come into the 21st century, but for now, this blog is about as high tech as I’m going to get.

The reason I’m jumping in with another entry has nothing to do with where we are as a church, what’s going on in ministry, or the highlights of some new venture.  It’s far deeper than that.  It’s about a personal test.  Here’s the test.  Sometimes in my life, and I would imagine this is true for you as well, I like to stay on the mountain top with God.  Sweet fellowship, exciting worship, heartwarming moments, connecting with God.

Oswald Chambers, in his classic, My Utmost for His Highest, reminded me this morning that although those times are exulting, they are not where God wants us to remain.  He puts it this way: “The test of the spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong.  It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up.”

Which is exactly what Jesus did in Mark 2.  He had His “mountain-top experience” along with Peter, James and John, but they didn’t stay on the mountain.  They descended right into the midst of ministry demands, a large crowd, and people arguing (Mark 9:14).

Isn’t it like that in life and ministry?  You go on vacation or have a spiritual retreat only to come back to crowds and people arguing.  But herein lies the test.  Is my spiritual life all about me or becoming like Jesus?  Spiritual selfishness seeks satisfaction in the ongoing moments of being enraptured in the presence of God.  And those times of exaltation are exceptional!  They have their place in our spiritual journey, but they are not where God wants us to remain.  He wants us to go back to lift others up to the place where we have trod.  If we make our spirituality all about us, we’re doomed.  Number one, we won’t stay on the mountain top for long, because God won’t let us.  He’ll never let us keep the focus on ourselves.  And number two, He will discipline us all the more to shape us and mold us into the image of His Son.

The moments on the mountain are exceptional, and we give thanks for when God allows us to pull back the curtain of heaven and have a glimpse of His glory and what is to come in all of eternity.  But that vision should compel us to go back to the highways and hedges, back to the crowds, and, yes, even the arguing to bring others along with us.  They, too, need to see the glimpse of the divine to inspire them in ridding their lives of everything that holds them back from making that mountain climb and, in due time, passing their own test.