THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
CHAPTER 19
WEEK 6 - WEDNESDAY
Read and pray: "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment." (Prov. 18:1)
The pilgrims speak again with Ignorance and perceive in his words the language of a Christian in name only.
When Hopeful finished the reasoning we have just mentioned, he looked back and, seeing Ignorance following them, said to Christian:
Hopeful – That young man doesn’t seem too eager to catch up with us.
Christian – I see that. He clearly doesn’t enjoy our company.
Hopeful – I think the same. Still, let’s wait for him.
And so they did. As soon as the young man came near, Christian asked him why he was walking so slowly.
Ignorance – I enjoy walking alone, especially when I don’t like the company.
Christian – (Whispering to Hopeful): Didn’t I tell you he didn’t enjoy our company?
(Aloud, to Ignorance): Come now, walk with us and let’s use our time in a profitable conversation. Tell me how you are and how things stand between God and your soul.
Ignorance – I suppose as good as they can be. I’m always filled with good thoughts, which come to my mind and comfort me along my pilgrimage.
Christian – And what kind of thoughts are these?
Ignorance – I think about God and heaven.
Christian – So do demons and the damned souls!
Ignorance – But I meditate on these thoughts and have the desire to live them out.
Christian – Many do the same and yet have no real hope of reaching God or heaven. The soul of the sluggard desires and has nothing (Prov. 13:4).
Ignorance – But I think on these things and give up everything for them.
Christian – I very much doubt that, for giving up everything is far more difficult than many think. But tell me: what is your basis for thinking you have given up everything for God and heaven?
Ignorance – My heart assures me of it.
Christian – The wise man says that he who trusts in his own heart is a fool (Proverbs 28:26).
Ignorance – That’s when the heart is evil; mine, however, is good.
Christian – And how can you prove it?
Ignorance – I find comfort in the hope of heaven.
Christian – That too may be deceptive. The heart can comfort us with the hope of something it has no real basis to hope for.
Ignorance – But my heart and my life are in perfect harmony, and so I believe my hope is well grounded.
Christian – Who told you your heart and your life are in harmony?
Ignorance – My heart.
Christian – Your heart! If the Word of God does not bear witness to that, any other witness is worthless.
Ignorance – Isn’t a heart that has good feelings a good heart? Isn’t a life that agrees with God’s commandments a good life?
Christian – It’s true: a heart with good thoughts is good, and a life in harmony with God’s commandments is good. But you must note that having them is one thing, and thinking you have them is another.
Ignorance – Then tell me: what do you understand by good thoughts and a life in conformity with God’s commandments?
Christian – There are different kinds of good thoughts: some about ourselves, some about God, and some about other things.
Ignorance – What are the good thoughts about ourselves?
Christian – Those that agree with the Word of God.
Ignorance – When do our thoughts about ourselves agree with God’s Word?
Christian – When we judge ourselves the way that Word judges us. Let me explain. The Word of God says of those in their natural state that there is none righteous, not even one; no one who does good. It also says that every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil continually (Genesis 8:21).
So, when we think that way about ourselves and truly feel it, our thoughts are good because they agree with the Word of God.
Ignorance – I will never believe that my heart is that bad.
Christian – And that’s why you’ve never had a single good thought in your life. Just as God’s Word judges our ways, when the thoughts of our hearts and our ways agree with that judgment, both are good because they align with it.
Ignorance – Explain what that means.
Christian – The Word of God says that man’s ways are crooked, that they are not good but evil. It says men by nature have turned aside and have not known the way (Psalms 125:5; Proverbs 2:15; Romans 3:12–17). Now, when a man thinks that way about his own ways, with a humbled heart, then he has good thoughts about his ways.
Ignorance – And what are good thoughts about God?
Christian – Likewise, they are thoughts that agree with what the Word of God tells us about Him—about His being, His attributes—as the Word teaches. But I cannot go into all that now. Speaking only of God in His relation to us, our thoughts are right and good when we think that He knows us better than we know ourselves; that He can see sin in us even when we cannot see it at all; that He knows our most secret thoughts and that what is most hidden in our hearts is always visible to His eyes; that all our righteousness is abominable in His sight, and therefore He cannot allow us to stand before Him trusting in our works, even the best ones.
Enjoy more:
Hymn – Longings – “For Light”
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