Choose Wisely

"The hill, though high, I desire to ascend"

John Bunyan’s classic The Pilgrim’s Progress never gets old; its lessons are timeless. Take, for example, the encounter Christian has just after his burden is lifted at the cross. After meeting Formalist and Hypocrisy (the two men who thought they could get to the Celestial City by climbing over the wall and bypassing the cross), the three of them come to the foot of the Hill Difficulty.

As Bunyan explains it, there are three paths confronting the men: “Here the men were faced with a choice of three paths. The path that led directly from the gate continued straight up the steep hill. Another path turned to the left and a third to the right of the hill.”¹ The paths that lead to the left and right, at first glance, look relatively easy when compared to the “steep” path that leads straight up the hill. Which of the three would you choose?

If you know the story, Formalist and Hypocrisy want nothing to do with the difficult, steep path that goes straight up the hill. They want an easy route. So they opt for the two paths that lead around the hill. Surely this would be the wise and safe choice, right? Wrong. Soon after their fateful decisions, they realize the peril of their ways and meet their doom.

Unlike Formalist and Hypocrisy, Christian made the right choice. He took the (unconventional?) steep and dangerous path that led straight up the hill:

Christian went to the spring and drank until he was no longer thirsty and began to go up the Hill Difficulty, saying:

“The hill, though high, I desire to ascend.
The difficulty will not me offend;

For I perceive the way to life lies here.
Be strong, my heart, let’s neither faint nor fear;
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”

Perhaps you’re confronted this day with various “paths” to choose in your pilgrimage to the Celestial City. Dear Christian, choose wisely. And don’t assume the King’s Way is never steep, never difficult. Let us say with Christian, “The hill, though high, I desire to ascend. The difficulty will not me offend.”

By the grace of God, let’s get climbing knowing that our great reward lies ahead.

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Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. — 2 Timothy 4:8

1. All quotes from John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: From this World to That Which is to Come, ed. C.J. Lovik (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 65–66.