15 Oct 2015
Faith is hard. It’s
hard to live our faith out in the
world. But that’s not the kind of living faith Jesus and St Paul are
talking about today. Here they’re just
talking about our basic faith in God—our
basic trust in God. And that kind of faith is hard.
This past weekend, Jesus mentioned how hard it was for a rich
person to enter the kingdom; it’s hard for a person to follow the “narrow way”
if they’re loaded down with things. And
we get that. I mean, just try to walk
through a regular door in your house carrying a bunch of luggage. It’s hard.
And faith is hard because having real faith and trust in God is the “narrow way.” And it’s hard because we can be loaded down
with the sense that simple faith isn’t enough—that I need to prove myself to God; that I need to work my way into God’s heart. Faith is hard—the “narrow way” is hard—because
it makes us put down our baggage and say: “Ok, God, your mercy and love is
enough.”
Faith is hard because it requires us to just trust God—without worrying about if
there’s anything else I can do to
secure his love and affection. The “narrow
way” of faith is the way of simple
trust and adoration of God for who he is: a God of mercy and goodness.
And faith is the “key” Jesus speaks of today. Simple faith opens the door to knowledge of
God. Ironically, though, we don’t turn
that key—God does. That’s faith, that’s
the narrow way: to “let go and let God.”
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