I wish I had your faith

I really want to be able to play the guitar, and I think there are only a few challenges I need to overcome. The first challenge is to get some lessons: no one has ever taught me how to play the guitar so I don’t know where to start. The second challenge will be to practice: once I’ve had some lessons, I will need to practice what I’ve learned, but I do know that I struggle to find the time. The third and perhaps most significant challenge is that I don’t own a guitar.

To paraphrase Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Pride and Prejudice), “If I had ever learnt to play the guitar, I should have been a great proficient.”

Although I say I want to play the guitar, nothing about my behaviour will help me to learn. I don’t even own a guitar.

Sometimes people say to me, “I wish I had your faith”. Faith isn’t like playing the guitar, faith is not something reserved for those who try really hard, instead faith is a gift. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he writes, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” So, if faith is a gift from God, why doesn’t everyone have it?

Maybe the challenge is to recognise the gift. If a person doesn’t know they’ve been given a gift, they’ll never open it and discover the delights in store for them. Imagine being surrounded by presents on your Birthday but not knowing they were for you. Imagine wishing you had a present, wishing you had the gift of faith, but not knowing that it was right there in front of you to be unwrapped.

If the all people of Marsden and Slaithwaite have been given the gift of faith, but have no one to show them, how will they ever know?

Although faith is a gift, it can be nurtured, it can grow in strength to bring us through difficult times. One of the ways our faith can be nurtured is to help other people discover their faith. Maybe we do need to practice a bit more… maybe our faith will grow if we take it seriously and put it into practice.

If you wish to know more about Christian faith, why not come along to church? Shred in Upper Slaithwaite (Bradshaw Lane), St James in Slaithwaite, and St Bartholomew’s in Marsden are groups of people who are seeking God with their heart, soul, mind and strength. Learning to love their neighbours as they are loved. If you want to take your faith seriously – why not come along and learn with us.

May God bless you, be with you, and with all whom you love.
Graeme.