 to abide in him. It means to wait in him, to be in settled union with him. ){kind=link}
I am tired of the sickening pace.
Of the disgusting effect social media has on people, on me.
Of the rancid effect today’s rhetoric has on the Christian witness, on my witness.
Of the muting of beauty through entertainment programming bent on vulgarity and the profane.
So, I’m headed to a simpler path. It’s a path called Meno.
That’s the word Jesus used when he told his friends (otherwise known as his disciples) to abide in him. It means to wait in him, to be in settled union with him.
It’s a strange path for a man in our world, I admit. It actually requires something of me. The question is, “Am I willing to meet its demands?”
The Meno Path requires intimacy. And not the sexual kind Netflix flings at us.
Rather, the kind made up of obedience and sacrifice.
I must be willing to follow a power and authority higher than myself.
To follow commandments. Like the annoying kind that requires me not to have any other gods in my life. It’s not like I’m involved in pagan bull worship, bathing in blood.
But I might be bathing in my man cave or Xbox or materialism or sensualism or hedonism or other “isms” I like to disguise as “me time.”
The Meno Path requires commitment. I must commit to it to the point of death.
“Till death do us part” isn’t just a mantra for my marriage, it’s the battle cry of my decision to follow Jesus. It says, “Here I am, cross on my back. Let’s climb the path.”
And death might very well be physical. Jesus didn’t figuratively die on a cross. It certainly means to die to my self.
The further up the path I get, the more plain this kind of dying becomes. I begin naming things I didn’t know were obstacles.
Like the fussy way I respond when I don’t want to do something. Like ignoring a relational problem with my wife, hoping it will go away. Like staying up too late, because well, I deserve more time to myself.
The Meno Path is steep. It leads into the high rugged places. It is not for the weak of heart.
And I am often weak in my heart. So how do I continue?
I gain strength from the stillness of the high altitude. I find renewal in the silence, refreshment in the solitude, and clarity from a wilderness that strips me to my essentials.
The Meno Path requires hope. Hope emerges in the heights; where the winds try to push us off the path.
Hope connects to the deepest part of my heart. It’s also called desire or longing.