I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness. ~Mother Teresa
The title of the book has stuck with me far longer than its content. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, by Eugene Peterson, has winked at me from the bookshelves on more than one discouraging occasion.
The phrase is a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, who understood at least this about life: Faith is not an easy sprint to a stone’s-throw finish line.
The ideal of a quick, never questioning obedience leaves little wiggle room for human frailty. Who of us has not quit? Who can really go the distance with undoubting certainty and a never-failing “yes”? Not me. Too many times to count I have
- stopped praying long before the answer came,
- emphatically answered “no” when it was clear what God was asking,
- given up on people, on my self, on the world.
A Parable of Obedience
Tucked among Jesus’ urgent last appeals to his wayward people is a parable of two sons. The father asks each son to work in the vineyard for the day. One answers, “I will not!” but later changes his mind and obeys. The other immediately responds, “Sure, Dad,” but never does go. Jesus asks, “Which of the two did the will of the father?”
Our response to the inspiration of the moment; or whether or not we felt like obeying his voice, is not what matters in the end. Years, or decades later, the proof of obedience will be obvious: Did we do what he asked us to do?
Not many of us will be remembered as heroic sprinters, most of us will limp much of the way. But may we all be remembered for the tight grip we had on the one obedient Son who can get us across the line.
Matthew 21:28-32, Philippians 1:6
What have you learned about the marathon of faith?
