I've always wanted to climb the highest mountain in Ireland. A few years
ago, I got the chance. It was one of those rare occasions when
everything appeared to be working out right. We were already down in
Kerry on holiday, the weather was perfect and we had a map of the
area. We knew it would be a long climb, so we set off early.
We were right. It was a long climb. It was much higher and steeper than
I thought. Parts were almost too difficult for the children, but we were
determined to do it. In fact had we not wanted to do it so badly, we
would have given up, because frankly some parts of it were just a little
too dangerous for comfort. But we were so keen to climb the highest
mountain in Ireland that we pressed on.
The route we chose didn't appear to be a very good one and it took us a
long time to get to the top. We were tired. The boys were young and
had been a little frightened in some parts, but we had done it. Our
determination had paid off.
When we got to the top, another man was already there. When he
overheard me tell the boys that we were now on top of the highest
mountain in Ireland he came over and had a word with me. "Excuse me,"
he said, "That's the highest mountain in Ireland over there." He pointed to
another peak about a quarter of a mile away.
It's hard to believe but we had actually climbed the wrong mountain!
I thought about it the other day when I was reading Paul's letter to the
church in Rome. "Brothers," he wrote, " My heart's desire and prayer to
God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about
them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on
knowledge."
Do you notice that? Paul says zeal is not enough. One of the great errors
growing in strength today is, that how you decide to worship God is
unimportant. What religious path you choose to follow doesn't matter;
what matters is that you follow it zealously follow your own path of
enlightenment, God will honour your commitment.
A man tried to explain this to me one time by saying, "After all, we're all
climbing the same mountain!" His philosophy was that we were all
climbing in own way towards God. Millions of people all taking their
own route and someday we will all meet at the top.
My experience down in County Kerry was is that it didn't matter how
hard I climbed or how badly I wanted to get there. When I eventually
reached the top, I discovered that I had been climbing the wrong
mountain!
If someone had told me that I was climbing the wrong mountain, I could
have changed my way of going, but nobody did. So I carried on thinking
I was going in the right way. All the commitment, all the determination to
stand on top of Ireland's highest mountain didn't count for anything in the
end. I had climbed the wrong mountain.
"Zeal", says Paul, "Is not enough”
