Sleepy Believing

The other day I met up with a friend. I’ve been reading the Gospel of John with him as he explores what faith in Christ is all about. A while ago we read what Jesus said to a Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). I’ve often thought how good it would be for my friend to discover more about this ‘gift of God’ and who this Jesus is.But like a slap in the face, I’m confronted with the idea that Jesus’ statement isn’t just for interested seekers like my friend – it’s equally true for me.

Having believed this good news for more than thirty years now, it’s easy to think I have a pretty good understanding of the gospel message, and who God is. In this state of mind, it’s easy for everything to get comfortable and familiar and I can rationalise away any tricky or demanding things that I read in the Bible. Certainly, it’s possible for me to grasp the basics about the person and message of Christ, but this good news has sharp edges, and this person Jesus has a challenging unpredictability about him. His message is bigger and more all-encompassing than I can grasp, as are his demands on my life. He wants to draw me deeper into life, but it’s a painful journey of letting go of lots of comforting rubbish along the way.

It’s all too easy to be lulled into a sleepy believing. But there is no life in that mindset. I need Jesus and his Good News now as much as I did when I first believed.

If this sounds like you, then it’s time to wake up, sleepers! Let us listen -again- to him who speaks. Let us know -again- this gift of God. Let us ask and he will surely raise us from our sleepy believing. And we will see -again- that this good news is just as good as the day we first believed.