The Life Long, Hard Work of Keeping The Faith

The Christian life is both a joy and, given the reality of the world, a difficult path to follow. While there is great joy, it is also true that we have to live the faith in the reality of this world, where it is daily more misunderstood, ridiculed, and rejected. The struggle we encounter is both an exterior struggle with a world full of temptations, and an interior one with our own consciences and our own unique weaknesses. This is not new, of course. We know both of these things very well. It is reality after all, and has always been so.

In the context of this reality, we can be challenged by something as simple and real as fatigue, which can tempt us to pull back from the difficult challenges and demands of our Christian faith, or we can be tempted just to give up entirely. When this happens, it is helpful to remember that this is just one of the ways that the Enemy tries to keep us away from God. He always tempts us where we are most vulnerable, through the immediacy of our nerve endings, our feelings, both physical and emotional. When we grow tired and weary of the long moments, days, even years of living out the challenges of our faith in the worldly “marketplace”, we can easily be tempted to try to ‘escape the pain’. At times like this, we need to remember that no matter how much we would like it to be, the world is not shaped by our idyllic dreams. Often enough comfort and peace elude us, and we can be battered by stormy trials. Discouragement can overwhelm us.

This is the reality of a life of faith, a life lived consciously and willingly in imitation of Christ in the midst of the realities of our fallen world. The joyful part of our faith comes with our knowledge of and our belief in God’s unconditional love and his infinite faithfulness toward each one of us. What is the evidence for this love and faithfulness? The proof of that love and faithfulness is Jesus Christ. In Jesus we see that God has a long memory for his own promises. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s ancient promise of our salvation. Jesus’ death on the Cross is proof that he has a short memory for our own failures to keep our promises to him. In this truth we can know true joy, the joy of God’s love and perfect mercy.

Biblical people do not believe for a moment that human beings (or any of the things of human origin) are perfectible. We know that we are fallen and weak. We know this by experience. We know, in our brokenness, that we are in great need of God’s generous graces to be able to live the life he calls us to. Though living the life that Christ calls us to can be difficult in this fallen world, we can take comfort and joy in knowing that, if we can humbly and willingly bend our wills to God’s will, He will give us the graces we need to be able to endure all that comes our way in our long journey on the narrow path to his kingdom. His love is always oriented toward our good.

How can we stay buoyed up by this confidence in God’s love and faithfulness? One sure way is to develop the habit of prayer. Begin the day with prayers for strength and guidance and for protection from the Enemy’s temptations in all of their forms. Prayer is not limited to certain times either. For example, if a surprising moment of quiet arises during your day, step aside, either physically, if possible, or interiorly. Take a breath and place yourself in God’s presence. At the end of the day, make a brief examination of conscience. Reflect on where you might have fallen short of the ideals of your faith during that day and ask His forgiveness. Believe that you have it, then, let go of that day’s failure/s, and move on, lessons learned. After that, give God thanks for all of the small and great gifts you received during your day. Then commend your soul to Him who is love eternal. In this practice of presence and thanksgiving, our relationship with God will grow more intimate and we will find the sustenance we need to keep up the struggle to our heavenly home.