Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
Romans 8:18

Read: Matthew 13:1-23, Romans 8:18-25
Pilgrim’s Progress: Stage 1 Part 6

Relate: Two neighbors chase Christian down. One thing John Bunyan is not is subtle. The names of his characters leave no doubt as to their personalities. Obstinate has made up his mind and closed it permanently against anything that might disturb his settled view of the world. He thinks Christian is a fool, says so loudly, and tries to grab him and drag him back. When that fails, he turns around and goes home with a huff of contempt. He has made his decision and will not revisit it. Pliable is different. In some ways, he is more dangerous. Pliable thinks Christian might actually be onto something. He is interested. He is curious. He has no particular objection to the Celestial City, especially when Christian describes what awaits those who make it there. So Pliable comes along. He walks with Christian. He seems, for a moment, like he might be a fellow pilgrim.

Bunyan gave us Obstinate and Pliable not as ancient characters in a seventeenth-century dream, but as portraits of people we encounter every single day. These people who are in our churches, in our small groups, in our families… and in our own mirrors? Obstinate is the person who will never be argued into the kingdom because their resistance isn’t intellectual; it’s volitional. They have decided they don’t want what God is offering, and no amount of evidence or eloquence will move them. You cannot win an argument with Obstinate. All you can do is keep walking and keep praying. Pliable is the harder case. Pliable gives you hope. Then he breaks it. Pliable will go wherever the conversation is most engaging.

React: What distinguishes a genuine pilgrim from a Pliable is not enthusiasm. Pliable has enthusiasm. It is not even initial belief. Pliable seems to believe everything Christian tells him about the Celestial City. What distinguishes genuine faith from Pliable’s faith is what happens when the road becomes hard. Anyone can follow Jesus when the conversation is exciting and the company is good and the destination sounds wonderful. The test comes at the Slough of Despond. It always does. The Slough will reveal, quickly and without mercy, whether what we thought was faith was actually just the warm feeling of a good idea that hadn’t yet been tested by anything real.

Respond:

Dear God,
Let my roots go deep. Let the soil You have planted me in be good. Do not let me be obstinate, convinced I am right no matter what the truth may be. Neither let me be pliable, too willing to give up the moment hardship comes. Let me walk along Your path no matter what those around me might say or do.
Amen.