“My wayward children,” says the Lord,
“come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”
Jeremiah 3:22

Read: Isaiah 6:1-8, Luke 15:11-32
Pilgrim’s Progress Stage 1 Part 13

Relate: Christian weeps. Not the vague, atmospheric weeping of the opening pages, but the specific, targeted grief of a man who now understands exactly what he did wrong and why. He followed a wrong voice. He chose an easier road. He abandoned the narrow way for a sensible-seeming shortcut, and the shortcut led him to a mountain that nearly crushed him. He repents of this. His repentance is not a ritual or a formality. Christian repents as a man who has looked squarely at his own foolishness and is genuinely sorry for it. Evangelist, having let the grief do its work, now does what Evangelist is for: he points, again, toward the gate. Go. Run. The gatekeeper is expecting you.

Repentance and re-entry is, perhaps, the most important section of Stage One. It is not because it is the most dramatic, but because it establishes a pattern that will repeat itself throughout the entire pilgrimage. Christian will wander again. He will make other wrong turns. He will listen to other charming voices offering easier alternatives to the hard, narrow road. Each time, there will be a return, a reckoning, a grief, a reorientation, and a fresh start toward the gate. The Christian life is not a single dramatic decision followed by a smooth trajectory upward. It is a journey of repeated repentance and re-entry, of losing the road and finding it again, of God’s extraordinary patience outlasting our extraordinary gift for wandering.

React: I am so grateful that this is not the end of Christian’s story at the foot of that hill. I am grateful because I have stood at similar hills. I have been charmed by my own versions of Mr. Worldly Wiseman. I have chosen the sensible path over the right one, the respectable alternative over the costly and narrow truth. And I have found that God does not simply watch from a distance as I stand there shaking. He sends someone to find me. He asks the uncomfortable questions. He waits for the honest grief. And then, always, always, always, He points again toward the gate. The gate is still open. It was open when you left the road. It is open now that you’ve come back. The gatekeeper, who knew you were coming long before you knew you needed to come, is waiting. Run.

Respond:

Dear God,
I confess that too often I have rationalized my disobedience, or I have listened to those who have done so for me. My desire to do things my way has caused me to stray from Your way. But I return. Once again, I come running back to You. Thank You that Your amazing grace is always greater than my ability to wander.
Amen

This is the end of the first stage of Pilgrim’s Progress. There are nine more stages to go, with about 10-15 sections in each, so stay tuned. I am also looking to turn this into a book, so within the next month or two, I should start including that link down here. But in the meantime, if you have been blessed by this series, feel free to click that link in the top right that says, “Support my missionary work in Ukraine.”