Being Christian is a bit like going on a hike. As someone who has completed his bronze DofE, and silver DofE practice expedition – 2 days each – as well as his Blue Road Marching with Cadets (comprising a 15km, 20km and finally 25km distance walk), I have done plenty of walking over the past year.
I say this because, for a lot of us, we start Christianity, be it in the new year, the new festival or from discovering or re-discovering our faith, full of enthusiasm, happy, laughing, joking, and pleased with the world. And then as we get into it, as the hill grows or life gets in the way, we slow, falter, and continue – enthusiastic but a little wearier.
And then our foot disappears into the knee-deep mud field we’ve blundered into unexpectedly. We pull our foot out and the boot gets left behind. This moment, be it on a hike or on our journey through faith, is really the make-or-break.
On the hike, there are two options. Sit down and refuse to go any further, or retrieve the boot, tighten your laces and power on through the mud.
For me, faith is very similar. As we go through the trials and tribulations of life, there are moments when it feels like it would be easier to give up, sit down and refuse to continue. We might justify it or try to anyway. We’re too young, too old. We’re too quiet, too loud, too unpopular, too marginalised. We’re too insignificant.
But the Bible tells us we are made in God’s image. And surely, if he is the most significant thing in our lives that means that we are all also significant. I challenge that a parent would not sacrifice their only child for the sins of someone insignificant.
And so, we push on, through the mud and the hills, scrabbling for footholds, feeling the boosts of tailwinds and trail snacks, revelling in the companionship of walking partners. And the satisfaction of getting to camp is multiplied tenfold when the journey to get there has been difficult.
In James 1:3 we are told ‘when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow’. Without those trials and difficulties, our faith never has a chance to grow and flourish into the well-rounded Christian we all strive to be. And, speaking from personal experience, the steeper the hill you climb, the better the view from the top.
Harry Booton
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