Faith Isn’t A Fairytale
In one of the three fairy tale versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a juvenile offender named Goldilocks trespasses and enters the home of, you guessed it, three bears. Eating food that doesn’t belong to her, breaking furniture that doesn’t belong to her and sleeping in a bed that doesn’t belong to her; poor baby bear.
During her breaking and entering escapade, as she’s slurping porridge and dirtying bed linens, she discovers what she likes. What’s “just right” for her even if it’s not her stuff. A lesson around faith that I’m still learning and probably will continue to learn until I take my last nap.
Like the parable of the Sower, my heart, my faith, my entire adult life; was distracted by worldly concerns that produced no spiritual fruit until I finally surrendered my repentant heart. A heart and soul filled with God’s love for me and you.
Enthusiastic, energized and excited by my newfound faith, my life began to reorder itself. My principles adjusted, my priorities altered; my purpose now about allying my life to loving God and neighbor.
Then I hit rock.
Comparable to the hard and impenetrable Mojave desert landscape, my faith is struggling to take root in rocky soil. Not ideal when trying to plant anything in Vegas, definitely not ideal as it relates trying to grow my faith.
Like Goldilocks, I believed that living my faith was about finding what was “just right” for me. Making it all about me, as opposed to making it all about honoring my Creator. The God who created me, the God who gave me life, the one and only true God that loves me more then I’ll ever comprehend.
Then it hit me like a ton of rocks.
If I want my faith to enlarge, flourish and grow, I need to completely surrender my life to God and trust in God alone. I need to stop putting my faith in other people, in any worldly institution and not in myself or what I want to happen. Faith is trust and it’s earned.
We’re tested and tempted every moment of every day. Like Abraham, Moses and Rahab and every Biblical character including Jesus. The Deceiver offering us all the stuff of this world including death. God offering us all things spiritual including eternal life.
While my faith comforts me, it’s also challenging me. As I work to remove the rocks in my life that are getting in the way of me bearing good fruit. Desirous of the bountiful harvest that happens when trusting in God completely even when lies are whispered about God’s character or believing that I alone know good and evil, even if the time-tested human inclination is to define right living as enriching myself and my tribe.
My faith lives in paradoxical tension. A rubber band waiting to snap. A coil wanting to spring. A bound chain looking to break free.
My faith comforts and consoles me. It also confronts and challenges me when I miss the mark. Learning in real-time that two things can be true at the same time. Learning in real-time that the one thing faith cannot be is complacent because complacency cannot bear good fruit.
Like the story of the rich young ruler, as much as I try and live a life that honors only God, I’m unable to enter the narrow gate because I’m still holding onto stuff. Living an anxious fear that God will not provide. Terrified that I’ll “lose” everything I’ve worked to accumulate in this life. Living in fear of fear.
Then it hit me, the only way to remove the rocks, is to cling to the Rock.
Consoled in knowing that we all have fallen short, including Abraham, Moses and Rahab. Comforted in knowing that Jesus is Lord and Savior. My Lord and Savior even when I fall short; and I do. Convinced that all things are possible with God, but only if I believe and live it with a conviction of faith and the certainty of Love.