Rebuff
A rebuff to that previous post of last week. This one is from Fellowship of the Ring:
"You have a stout heart, little hobbit. But that will not save you." (Aragorn to an over eager Sam)
I love it! I was wondering why I was thinking of that particular quote today. It certainly is an enjoyable moment, but I see now there were some deeper waters flowing through that. Last night, I was reading in Proverbs 19, and it says: "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." And the Old Testament speaks at one point about maintaining wisdom of heart. Emphasis there on the heart, not the head. Eldredge talks about that in Waking the Dead. Now connect that with how Aragorn tells Frodo at that point in the story in the book: "There's a difference between caution and wavering" and goes on to say essentially, "You're going to have to trust me. I have the power you need and you can't save yourselves no matter your abilities, but I can lead you out. But you can't equivocate. You must be resolute in this." So it all connected for a good lesson. You can have all the enthusiasm you want (and that is important). But you've got to put your trust in the One who is strong enough so as to be able to make it through. You can live an okay life with a lot of enthusiasm, but you must make a choice to trust Jesus if you plan to get through the wilds of life. It takes more than a stout heart. You've got to trust in the only right guide there is. It'll take the wisdom of heart to trust your life to the One who can get you through. All this just confirms to me that God is brilliant and knows so amazingly how to engage our hearts with the truth.
May your heart be stout and wise today.
PS, if you think that I am kidding about this, that this is some sort of neat spiritual analogy that David thought up because he's a thinker, consider this. As a human being travelling through this life, you are either on the journey with a guide whom you have trusted, or you are out on your own. Think you know how to traverse the landscape on your own? Hah. It's no different than that film, which is not as much fantasy as you wished it was. The black riders are after you too. They are called demons, and they want to make your life a living hell, or to see it annihilated all together. You don't see them, but they see you. And they will never stop hunting you, as the film points out. Think you are safe on your own? Think again. Without a guide as good as Aragorn - and the only appropriate guide in your life is Jesus - you are in one of two places. You are someone who has never trusted Christ at all and you are not alive and you will be destroyed by the very choice you have made not to trust Him or you are a Christian who is not going to make it in this life to the Life you have been promised. You'll get it when you die but you will have helped save no one. Your impact will have been zero. And your God will have spent your lifetime offering His help that you will have never received. The choice offered to Frodo is not much different than yours: trust me and your quest will continue. And he says nothing about the other choice, because it's not a realistic option. It's death and nothingness.
"You have a stout heart, little hobbit. But that will not save you." (Aragorn to an over eager Sam)
I love it! I was wondering why I was thinking of that particular quote today. It certainly is an enjoyable moment, but I see now there were some deeper waters flowing through that. Last night, I was reading in Proverbs 19, and it says: "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." And the Old Testament speaks at one point about maintaining wisdom of heart. Emphasis there on the heart, not the head. Eldredge talks about that in Waking the Dead. Now connect that with how Aragorn tells Frodo at that point in the story in the book: "There's a difference between caution and wavering" and goes on to say essentially, "You're going to have to trust me. I have the power you need and you can't save yourselves no matter your abilities, but I can lead you out. But you can't equivocate. You must be resolute in this." So it all connected for a good lesson. You can have all the enthusiasm you want (and that is important). But you've got to put your trust in the One who is strong enough so as to be able to make it through. You can live an okay life with a lot of enthusiasm, but you must make a choice to trust Jesus if you plan to get through the wilds of life. It takes more than a stout heart. You've got to trust in the only right guide there is. It'll take the wisdom of heart to trust your life to the One who can get you through. All this just confirms to me that God is brilliant and knows so amazingly how to engage our hearts with the truth.
May your heart be stout and wise today.
PS, if you think that I am kidding about this, that this is some sort of neat spiritual analogy that David thought up because he's a thinker, consider this. As a human being travelling through this life, you are either on the journey with a guide whom you have trusted, or you are out on your own. Think you know how to traverse the landscape on your own? Hah. It's no different than that film, which is not as much fantasy as you wished it was. The black riders are after you too. They are called demons, and they want to make your life a living hell, or to see it annihilated all together. You don't see them, but they see you. And they will never stop hunting you, as the film points out. Think you are safe on your own? Think again. Without a guide as good as Aragorn - and the only appropriate guide in your life is Jesus - you are in one of two places. You are someone who has never trusted Christ at all and you are not alive and you will be destroyed by the very choice you have made not to trust Him or you are a Christian who is not going to make it in this life to the Life you have been promised. You'll get it when you die but you will have helped save no one. Your impact will have been zero. And your God will have spent your lifetime offering His help that you will have never received. The choice offered to Frodo is not much different than yours: trust me and your quest will continue. And he says nothing about the other choice, because it's not a realistic option. It's death and nothingness.
posted by David at 4:39 PM
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