Not too long ago, blogger and author Rachel Held Evans posted a short, but wonderful piece titled “I Don’t Want an Easy Faith.” In the post she writes:
I want a faith that takes risks, that asks questions, that experiments, that evolves, that thrives amidst change and obeys amidst doubt. I want a faith that engages both my heart and my head, a faith that operates out of love, not fear, a faith that leaps when it needs to and crawls when it has to.
I thought these were great reflections on the complexity and difficulty, but also the novelty and wonder of what it means to have faith. Rachel’s piece was posted just around the time that we came to the parable of the sower this fall, during our study of Luke :
Luke 8:4-15
When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: ‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’
Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that
“looking they may not perceive,
and listening they may not understand.”
‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away…
It’s interesting to read this parable and think about where we fall amongst Jesus’ analogies. Did we not even try and risk that relationship with God? Or did we try it out, but maybe something didn’t click or it seemed too difficult or demanding, and we drifted away? Then there is the category that many of us probably fall into:
As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
Take note of the phrase “patient endurance.” Jesus is not looking for one time believers. He is looking to build a movement and he wants people who are in it for the long haul. Indeed, this is the type of faith that is the hardest yet most rewarding. It comes with its own challenges and is not built overnight.
I’m training to run my second half marathon. My goal is to finish the 13.1 mile race averaging 10 minute miles. When I started training for my first race last year, I could barely jog to the end of my block. At one point I was able to run 6 miles without stopping, but then I got distracted around the holidays and lost some of my fitness. I made it through the race, though my fitness was not where it should have been. I literally stumbled across the finish line because my calves were cramping so badly.
This year I vowed to do better and my training started off great. By the beginning of September I was down to 12 minute miles. Then I got sick. Really, really, sick and couldn’t train for almost three weeks. I’ve been back on the program for awhile now; however, when I first started back I was running slower than I was before I got sick. I was really discouraged and thought about just giving up. Then I realized that, well duh, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Despite the setbacks, I needed to regroup and keep my eye on the goal I set for myself. I needed to learn how to endure through the struggles, roadblocks, and setbacks. And I’m actually a stronger runner for it. I started training again; however, I started slower, stopped worrying about how fast I was going and just focused on sticking to my training schedule, without over doing it. Now, I’m just about back to where I want to be and can feel myself getting stronger and faster. I know there will probably be more setbacks, but I also know that no matter what, I can work hard to get back to where I want to be and crossing that finish line is going to be worth it.
On the journey of faith, life will throw everything it has at us and we can choose to let it overwhelm us or we can choose to see faith as a marathon, not a sprint. We can let those seeds of life that God gives us be swept away, we can refuse to allow them to take root, we can let them be choked out by all those things that distract us, and destroy the life within us.
OR
We can open ourselves to a life with God through Christ. We can take that risk and be a part of a movement to change the world. We can take those seeds of life and nurture them within us through prayer, community, study, worship, and service. However, we also have to be planters, with God, of these seeds throughout the world. We must plant seeds of love, peace, and forgiveness, and nurture those seeds so they too may grow and bear fruit.
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