In His Steps
How should I live my life?
The suitcase remains packed in case of emergencies; flowers and cards keep coming; 
the heart continues to beat out a variety of rhythms that defy explanation. Nothing for it but to take each hour as it comes and try to conform to the expectations of an invalid. Both frustrating and sobering.
Plenty of time, then, for the mind to wander to existential questions. And I’ve been helped in my explorations by two books in particular. Headaches and dizziness aren’t really conducive to reading, so I dip in for a while and then lie back thinking while the outside world rights itself again. So what were these two books?
First up: The Lost Message of Jesus. Steve Chalke is a charismatic and enterprising evangelical Christian, a broadcaster and author as well as preacher. I heard him in the flesh a few years ago and I liked what I saw: he’s a man who puts his faith into action and crusades on behalf of the oppressed and poor. He speaks with conviction and erudition but in understandable language; he writes in the same clear and conversational style. In The Lost Message of Jesus he (with Alan Mann) challenges the reader to look beyond the tribal views of Jesus which have, through the ages, moulded him to fit preconceived cultural ideas, constraining both the man and his teaching. He advocates instead examination of the radically different message which Jesus actually brought to mankind. Essentially, he says, it was a message that brought an ‘irresistible hope’ to ‘the downtrodden, the lonely, the forgotten, the untouchable’. A message that had – and still has – the power to transform. In Steve Chalke’s hands this message is revealed in a refreshing light, at once reassuring and relevant for today. He’s had his fair share of poor reviews but this month this little book was exactly what I needed to cheer me when life was feeling pretty tough.
In His Steps by Charles Sheldon is completely different, although he too believed in the importance of making his message easily readable and accessible. This book is his most famous, written in 1967, and having print runs in excess of 30 million copies (according to the cover). It tells the fictitious story of an American urban community, in a city called Raymond. One Sunday a dishevelled man interrupts the measured and beautifully written Sunday sermon in the city’s most up-market and richest church, with a question as to what ‘Follow me’ really meant to this congregation. Calmly and without accusation he recounted his own experience of seeking shelter and employment: he had seen no evidence of Christian action in his short time in Raymond. As a result of this experience, the minister subsequently asked those who were willing, to pledge themselves to live their lives as Jesus would for a whole year. The newspaper editor works to rid his paper of undesirable elements; an accomplished singer turns her back on worldly fame and acclaim to help people in the slums; a rich family commits their wealth to good causes; a man of the cloth takes his message to the drunk and disorderly. Lives are spectacularly changed. It’s a very readable book but also challenging. How would I respond? Would I open my home to down-and-outs? Would I give up my creature comforts to seek out those whose lives are full of darkness and evil? Would I eschew worldly success to further the gospel? Not so easy to dismiss when you have lots of time on your hands and very little distraction.
Neither book would claim to be the last word in theological exposition. There are things in both with which I would myself take issue. But they both served a very useful function: they helped me contemplate the essential question; how should I live my life? Sometimes we’re so busy being busy we don’t pause to question ourselves. Lying still for long hours gives one a different perspective and different priorities. And what’s more, thinking didn’t make me dizzy! Only the complexity of the challenges did.
I was reminded of another sermon I heard once which asked: If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Well, would there?