“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Looking past the absurdity of a cat talking, there is great wisdom in the above excerpt from the novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Chapter 6, Pig and Pepper). The Cheshire cat – a fictional character known for its distinctive mischievous grin, delivers in this exchange with Alice, a punch-line that speaks so accurately and timely into our lives.
Your intended destination determines the direction you take. It goes without saying, I guess, moreso as we see this notion at play in the dynamics of our everyday lives. Extending this thought into the reality of our Christian experience, believers are, in the gospel, armed with both the motivation and vision to live brazen Christ-centred lives.
This idea flies in the face of the misleading notion that it is possible to be so heavenly focused that we’re of little or no earthly good. Quite the contrary, the Bible argues, as it calls for single-minded devotion to God alongside love for neighbour that compares only with self-love. If ever we think of ourselves or others as so preoccupied with eternal things that we have no time for temporal good, then there is the odd chance that it’s anything else but heaven that’s on our mind.
A more plausible pitfall, and hence one to be wary of, is the reverse, where we get so tangled up in the affairs of this world that we rarely get up to much eternal good. In a frenzied, media saturated world, there is no shortage of distractions, legitimate and spurious ones alike. As such, it takes a good dose of intentionality and self-discipline to keep in step with the Spirit in order to steer the course of a maturing life of Christian discipleship.
It bears saying again that my goal isn’t so much to write of novel ideas that you’ve never heard of, as it is to remind us of things we must not forget. In that vein, as we navigate the unchartered territories of a new day or year, let us be diligent to examine and orient our choices in line with the end to which we have been called – to show forth the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light! 1 Peter 2:9. For, the clearer we behold the glories of the eternal, the more zealous we become of good works, done to the glory of God and for the good of others.
May we be those who attend to things temporal with eyes intent on the eternal. Amen!
Thanks for reading!
Sike Osinuga.