Some years ago Eugene Peterson wrote a book titled A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. I actually never read it, but that title stuck with me. It turns out that the title comes from the 19th Century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, a guy who I would more often think of as wildly off-base on most everything. Here’s the quote in full:
“The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.”
And though I didn’t read Peterson’s book and though I heartily disagree much of the time with Nietzsche, I like this. It seems like it’s an apt description of how I’ve viewed the Christian life.
But here’s the thing: to what or to whom are we to be obedient? If life is “a long obedience in the same direction,” it seems that having a good idea what this means is sort of essential.
Well, I have to admit that for a long, long time I was very, very wrong about the answer. Oh, I would have given the ‘right’ answer if asked, and I really did believe the right answers… in my head. But my heart never seemed to get the memo. My head knew the truth, but my heart had an oh-so-wrong perspective.
My head said that the obedience was a life lived to the glory of God out of joy and thanksgiving for His grace and mercy to us through His Son. (This really is the right answer, by the way.)
But my heart said that this long obedience was a life of enduring suffering, hiding from shame, settling for a life that was a simmering stew of misery, and in general being thankful that at least for today fewer shoes dropped than could have. (It might help to know that one of the most influential children’s books in my early childhood was the book Could Be Worse by James Stevenson.)
The fruit of all of that was a life of drudgery. I remember right around the time of my 30th birthday thinking, “Oh crap… this is it, isn’t it? I have 40-50 more years of this to endure.” Jesus’ promise of the “abundant life” seemed a cruel mockery. As I percolated on that perspective, I concluded that the “long obedience” essentially consisted of hanging on till I died or till the Second Coming, whichever came first.
That’s a pretty rosy life, huh?
Since, as they say, brevity is the soul of wit, I’ll wrap up this 1st installment by saying this:
I was wrong. O Lord, was I wrong. There is a life of peace, contentment, joy, and hope right here for the taking. My problem was that I didn’t know or understand how to apprehend that life. I didn’t know the key to open the door. (I’m not talking about ‘getting saved,’ FYI.) And so I was M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. I literally drank myself to death. (That’s a story for another day.)
The ‘long obedience’ isn’t suffering and drudgery. It’s something else entirely, something terrifying in aspect, but delightful in truth.
Y’all tune in next time for my description of what it is.
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