The call of Christ to us

One of the best moments in The Chronicles of Narnia is found in The Last Battle. As the survivors of the end of Narnia enter Aslan’s kingdom and begin to explore the call goes forth—first from Aslan, then echoed throughout the party: “Further up and further in!”

There is something stirring about these words, especially as I think about the Christian life. There’s the excitement of the day when we will enter into the presence of God, without question. But there’s also the immediacy of it, that echoes the call of Christ to us right now. “Come to me,” Jesus told his first disciples, and he continues to tell us today. And this call to come isn’t just at the beginning of our faith, but it continues until our final breath. Spurgeon described it well:

From the first moment of your spiritual life until you are ushered into glory, the language of Christ to you will be, “Come, come unto me.” As a mother puts out her finger to her little child and woos it to walk by saying, “Come,” even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you, bidding you follow him as the soldier follows his captain. He will always go before you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you shall hear his animating voice calling you after him all through life; while in the solemn hour of death, his sweet words with which he shall usher you into the heavenly world shall be—“Come, ye blessed of my Father.”