The Scenic Route

There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene H. Peterson*

Are you in it for the long haul?

The spiritual life is not just a flash in the pan. It’s not some temporary fascination that’s reserved for the super-spiritual gurus of the day. It’s not something that will just be gone in a week or two.

One of the fundamental flaws of our society is that we can get whatever we want, whenever we want it. Can’t find the answer to a question? Google it. Can’t understand the lyrics to that new song? Look up the lyrics online. Interested in watching your favorite movie? It’s probably streaming somewhere. If not, it’s available to buy or rent digitally in a number of places. Need toilet paper, groceries, school supplies? Just do a Walmart delivery. Hungry? Door Dash/Grubhub/whatever. Don’t have the resources to pay for it? Instant credit approval is available!

Instant gratification is a given in today’s society. The thought of having to wait for something is abhorrent to some.

And, don’t get me wrong, I use all those things as well. I’m fully caught up in the get it right away culture that we’re all in. I don’t like to wait for something, if I can help it.

But in this get-it-now society, we have forgotten about the importance of letting things marinate for a while. We want to microwave our spiritual life, when what we really need to do is set it on the smoker for a few hours. (I may be a little hungry as I’m writing today.)

The problem with this approach is that it does not work for our spiritual life. We can’t make it happen. We can pay attention to the conditions around us and make them a little more favorable, but it’s a bit like growing vegetables in a garden. You have to wait. You have to go through the process. There may be some things that speed it up, but you aren’t going to be picking any tomatoes the day after you put the seed in the ground.

Religious experiences are easy to manufacture. I’ve seen countless stories of churches having people mess with the room temperature or playing songs in a particular way to bring about emotional responses. And then they attribute the outcome of that manipulation to the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s really… sinister, if you stop to think about it.

But that’s not the life to which we are called as followers of Jesus.

We are called to a life-long walk. This isn’t something we’re going to be able to accomplish, check off our bucket list and then move on with other more pressing matters in our lives. It’s a daily grind. It’s a struggle at times. But at the end of the road is the greatest joy imaginable.

We experience that joy along the way as well. Glimpses. Small pieces. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “we see in a mirror dimly.” The fullness of this joy is incomprehensible to us right now, but we’ll get there. We just need to take the scenic route.

*Amazon affiliate link. Eugene Peterson is a deep well of spiritual guidance. This is a great read.