Faith and ones personal relationship with Jesus is really very hard work. Additionally, faith is a journey rather than a momentary experience and therefore takes time. This of course creates a problem in our fast paced, high demand, efficent culture that wants quick answers and quick results. It is much easier to have a McFaith, a faith that is quick and easy, lasts only moments, and while it might feel good at the time, the long term faith suffers. This is especially hard for me and many others like me because life is so fast paced and because our faith is challenged or questioned in a quick and moment based fashion. The journey with Jesus is a long haul journey and I know as a follower of Christ and as someone who works with students, it is critical to think about the long haul. It is about forming simple habits and exercises in the short term moments that will cause our faith to grow and last in the long term. We are not meant to live on the mountaintop, rather we are meant to live and live in the day to day valley's of life--and it is in the day to day that our faith is truly tested and proven. Anyone can believe and anyone can memorize a list of beliefs and doctrines. Anyone can serve in the limelight and do well under the gun, but it is much harder to follow Jesus and to be truly a disciple-one of the learned in the day to day. The first key in forming a long last faith that is not a quick fix McFaith is to find and engage in spiritual disciplines---to be a disciple takes discipline. Maybe it is daily prayer, maybe it is reading the Psalms or doing Lectio Divinia. Maybe it is simply reading and soaking in the scripture.
This is really important!