I’ve always wanted a strong faith. A faith with a firm foundation. A faith built on a solid rock. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve looked at older people who have a faith like that and wanted what they have.
I want a faith with confidence. I want to be able to believe in what I believe, regardless of what others will think or say. I’ve wanted to be someone who has an immovable faith. A faith that can move and inspire others to a God who I’ve met, who is good, and who is loving.
I feel like a lot of us want that, and a lot of us talk about wanting that. We talk about how we will have a strong faith, and desire a strong faith.
I also feel like we don’t talk a whole lot about how God is a God of discipline.
I find myself consistently forgetting that. That God disciplines us. That He wants us to be disciplined in the freedom we’ve been given. With much freedom comes much responsibility. He wants us to live a disciplined life. One that does not disrespect the work that was done for us. A life where I actually put effort into getting to know Him more.
But….
I start living my life as if my faith can come in some sort of effortless way. Like it will all just come to me at some point. That if I wait long enough, it’ll just happen. That faith, and wisdom, and love, and knowing God will simply get stronger the longer I live.
That if I somehow think the right thoughts that wisdom will come to me. Or if I treat enough people nicely then I’m living out my mission and that makes God happy so that means I have faith. Right?
An effortless faith.
It’s actually what I’ve been wanting. It would be nice. Really. An effortless faith. But I can’t believe it works like that. I can’t believe that I have no responsibility in seeking and putting time into something that I want.
I can’t believe that if I didn’t spend time with my family, my relationship would grow with them. It doesn’t work like that.
In my first two weeks in Haiti, I’ve spent a good amount of time moving rocks, and pouring cement. Rock by rock. One at a time. Consistently. over and over and over. Taking wheel barrels of cement up a hill. Go back down. Wait 30 seconds. Start it again. Over and over and over. Grab a bucket of cement. Take it to destination. Take it back. Over and over and over. Repetition.
Its nothing profound to say that the sidewalk and canal could not have been finished without the repetition taking place, but it is true.
A statement as true as saying that I cannot possibly have a firm foundation in my faith if I do not take the time work it out. Repetitively. Over and over and over.
If I believe that I can have an effortless faith then I have simply fallen into a lie and a trap. Complacency. Possibly it means that I have found a wisdom in accepting my surroundings, but there would seem to be a lack of calling and courage to put my life into action, and I just cannot let that happen.
A desire to be founded firm on a rock, without action applied to it, will bring nothing but a foundation built on sand. And when things get tough, I promise that the sand will get swept away and we will keep losing who we are every single time until we actually put an effort into our faith and put our foundation on the rock. I hope that we stop wanting an effortless faith, and that we start putting a real, hard, genuine, and repetitive effort into our faith with God.
