Last month was the centenary of George Mallory’s failed attempt to climb Mount Everest. While touring the USA, drumming up support, he was asked by reporters ‘Why?’ Well, why would you want to climb a mountain where the air is too thin to breathe, and the temperature gets up to about -10°C on a warm summer afternoon?
His answer, first printed in the New York Times in 1923, has become the mountaineers’ motto: “Because it’s there.”
Many of us do things instinctively (it felt right), or reflexively (it was obvious) or responsively (I had to do something).
But I suspect there are some things we do for a considered reason – a choice, my choice.
Following Jesus is a choice we make, and I wonder what you’d say if I asked you why? It’s not good enough to say ‘because my parents did’ or ‘because the church was there’.
People in the Bible answer this question:
Peter: You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68)
The no-longer blind man: I was blind, but now I see (John 9:25)
Paul: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
I wonder what your answer would be?
Raymond.