Become A Guide

 

He hasn’t done it all, but he’s done a lot. Erik Weihenmayer has summated Mount Everest as well as becoming one of the 150 climbers in the world who had, at the time, climbed the other 6 highest peaks in the world. He has kayaked 277 miles through the treacherous white waters of the Grand Canyon as well as ascending the 3,000-foot nose of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, California. Besides having appeared on the cover of Time magazine, three documentaries have been made about Erik’s accomplishments.

Why would so much attention be given to Erik Weihenmayer’s accomplishments? Because he’s blind. And, while so much focus has been on Weihenmayer’s achievements, he has made sure to give credit to whom credit is due. Erik has easily acknowledged that he couldn’t have completed any of his feats without the help of his many guides. Rob Baker, Eric Alexander, Luis Benitez, and Jeff Evans are just a few of the people who have willingly and ably guided Erik to his many successes.

[Jeremiah 6:16] Twenty-five hundred years ago, through Jeremiah, God said to the southern kingdom of Judah, “Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, “We will not walk in it” God has never left his people without guidance. In the Hebrew Scriptures, through Moses, God gave the Israelites the Law. Throughout Israel’s history, the prophets repeatedly tried to get God’s people back to the Law. In the New Testament, Jesus fulfilled both the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17-20). In a Moses-like persona, Jesus went up the Mount and gave his disciples a new type of Law (or Torah; Matthew 5-7). This Law is not one that he would carve into tables of stone, but one that he would etch into their minds and on their hearts (Hebrews 8:10-12). In our world of religious confusion, people take many paths to find the good way, but God said we could only find the good way in the ancient paths. God pleaded to Judah to find the ancient paths and follow his Law, but they refused to do so, and this decision led to their destruction.

Today, Jesus is the Way to the Father (John 14:6) and we need to be followers of that Way (Acts 19:2). That is, we need to get back to Jesus’ teachings and follow his precepts, and only then can we become followers of that Way. We need to get back to the Bible. We need to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent and call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways. We need to restore the church as it was in the days of the apostles.  While there is no explanation for why people forsake the ancient paths today, their destination is the same as the ancient Jews. Their god is their own appetites and will lead to destruction. While some mind only earthly things, we should remember that we are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:18-20a). When our god is our own appetites, we leave the ancient paths and find new, perverse paths. There are spiritually blind unbelievers all throughout the world (2 Corinthians 4:4), and Christians are called to guide them to the knowledge of the gospel of Christ (Mark 16:15-16).

Similar to Erik Weihenmayer’s guides, Christians must be willing to take the responsibility of guiding the spiritually blind to Christ. * Guides must be more than able to lead the spiritually blind. * Guides must be in better shape spiritually. * Guides must be connected to those they are guiding. * Christian guides must themselves be familiar with the way to get to Christ. Even for the sighted Christian, the narrow way to salvation is treacherous and difficult to stay on (Matthew 7:14). Blind unbelievers aren’t very likely to find their way to salvation without being guided (Romans 10:14).

Become a guide to the lost.