A Hobbit's Journey

How Tolkien uses a Hobbit to express the reality of the Christian life.

I have never seen or read The Lord of the Rings, though it has always been on the list. I have always heard the praises of the series, but never thought it was my cup of tea. This past week I picked up a copy of The Hobbit to start my journey in Middle Earth, and I was blown away.

I simply could not put the book down.

I finished the book a little over a week after I had got it, I now understand the praises so many have said about this series, and I am only one book in. The main character, Bilbo Baggins, an unlikely hero, goes on an adventure with 13 Dwarves, with the occasional appearance of Gandalf (typically just in the knick of time). The main flaw of Bilbo throughout the journey Tolkien takes the reader on is Bilbo’s inner battle: to be brave or go back to his comfortable hole in the ground.

Every time the going got tough, in the middle of the ominous forest of Mirkwood, held in captivity by Goblins (multiple times), or any other instance the Hobbit found himself in, it always came back to the same question:

Will I be brave or will I seek out comfort?

The same question is posed to the follower of Jesus. Jesus does not promise comfort, He does not promise physical safety, nor does He promise that life will become a cake walk once we decide to follow Him. Throughout our lives though, followers of Christ will want to go back to the comfort of their proverbial home, or even ‘put off’ devoted discipleship to Christ, so they could continue their lives void of sacrificing the things they want in the pursuit of Christ-likeness.

Matthew 8:18-23 comes to mind, as a mentor of mine shared with me, as it aptly shows the cost involved with following Jesus. A man asks Jesus if he can bury his father before he comes, and Jesus tells him to ‘let the dead bury their own dead.’ Or before that Jesus informs a scribe of the reality of the journey Jesus is on, telling him that He has no place to lay his head or call home.

The cost of the journey is minute in comparison to the cost of not spreading the Gospel.

And like the Hobbit, we will return home one day, after our long and wearisome journey. Once we do, we must face ourselves with whether we chose to be brave or fell into comfort in this short life we have. The Hobbit returns home finally after a long and wearisome journey, yet, you can tell he would not have traded any of those memories along the journey to return home early. ( I am speaking vaguely here to leave out spoilers, because you need to read this book!)

I’ll leave you with the encouragement the Lord have Joshua in the wake of Moses’ death:

‘Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’

Joshua 1:9

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