 “The word Christian”, writes Eugene Peterson, “means different things to different people. To one person it means a stiff, uptight, inflexible way of life, colorless and unbending. To another it means risky, surprised-filled venture, lived tiptoe at the edge of expectation.  Either of these pictures can be supported with evidence…But if we restrict ourselves to biblical evidence, only the second image can be supported: the image of the person living zestfully,
exploring every experience–pain and joy, enigma and insight, fulfillment and frustration–as a dimension of human freedom, searching through each for sense and grace. If we get our information from the biblical material, there is no doubt that the Christian life is a dancing, leaping, daring life.” (( Eugene Peterson, Traveling Light (Colorado Springs: Helmers & Howard, 1988), 57-58.))Â
The Way, the Truth and the Life
“As he neared the end, our Lord could speak of little else than the Father. (John 14:1-11) Heaven was his Father’s house, where a prepared mansion awaits each of us, perfectly adapted to the peculiarities of our temperament. God prepares a mansion for those who believe in Christ, and he asks in return that we shall prepare our hearts as guest chambers for him to dwell in. The yearning of the heart of man was truly set forth by Philip in his request to see the Father; but never before had it dawned upon human intelligence that the divine can find its supreme revelation in the simplicities and commonplaces of human existence. While Philip was waiting for the Father to be shown in lightning and thunder and the splendor of Sinai, he missed the daily unfolding of the life with which he dwelt in daily contact. To see Jesus was to see the Father. Nothing could more certainly prove the need of the Holy Spirit, by whom alone we can know the Lord.” ((F.B. Meyer, Devotional Commentary, p. 472))
