ON CATCHING THE WRONG BUS

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Harry Emerson Fosdick preached at Riverside Church in New York City for two decades. He had one of the most influential preaching ministries in the United States. He was liberal, I am conservative. I disagree with him on many points of doctrine. But I recognize the ability he had to communicate what he believed and much of what he believed we need to hear. The following is taken from one of his messages: On Catching the Wrong Bus.

...the newspapers carried the story of a man who boarded a bus with the full intention and desire of going to Detroit, but when at the end of a long trip he alighted at the destination, he found himself, not in Detroit, but in Kansas City. He had caught the wrong bus. Something like that goes on habitually in human life. People on the whole desire good things--happiness, fine family life, competence in their work, the respect of their friends, an honorable old age. Nothing is more common in our consciously held desires and intentions than such good goals, but after a long trip, how many, alighting at the destination, find themselves somewhere else altogether.

The Prodigal Son did not start out for a swine pasture.

 This truth that the destination we reach depends not on our ideals alone but on the bus we catch, is personally critical.

"Narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it." Matthew 7:13-14.That's it! To desire life, full, abundant, happy, free---when Jesus talks about that goal, saying, "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly," we find it easy to desire, but are we willing to face the road that  leads to it?

For one thing, we confront the serious implications of a law abiding universe. It is one thing to desire a great goal; it is another thing to fulfill the conditions of reaching it.

Consider further that we face here one of the most searching tests of our own personal sincerity. It is one thing to desire something ideal and right; it is another thing to be willing to pay the price.

"Narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it."