Where Are You Supposed To Be Standing?

A Word on Faithfulness from Pastor Jake

Note: this post was written by Jake Lemmer.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? - James 2:14

Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest, was once asked by a young man, “Where does real faith happen…where does it reside? Is it in my heart, or is it in my head?” Berrigan responds (a light language warning here), “Your faith is rarely where your head is and rarely where your heart is. Faith is where your ass is.” Or, in other words: “Faith isn’t primarily what you think or feel…faith is what you do.”

Berrigan follows up his memorably phrased response with one haunting question: “Inside what commitments are you sitting?” Berrigan’s point is this: while we are prone to overthink faithful living, and while we are prone to evaluate our ‘progress’ on the basis of our feelings, the truest and most honest forms of faith often look like simply taking responsibility for fulfilling our God-given commitments.

John gets around to the same thought in his first letter: he says, “Let us love not in word or talk but in deed and truth…by this…whenever our heart condemns us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:18, 19). In other words, talk is cheap. What God requires of us, all that He requires, is faithfulness…which is often a matter of simply showing up even when your head and heart aren’t in it. When we expect faithfulness to feel like intellectual epiphanies or passionate feelings, we will find that our faithfulness becomes sporadic and occasional, not a consistent “long obedience in the same direction.”

This is a crucial word for us who want to walk in the light and keep their gardens well: because keeping our gardens is ultimately about loving the people in our gardens, and because love must be practical, we must be ready to come through on our real-life commitments in seasons where we aren’t “feeling it.” 

Ronald Rolheiser captures this by simply saying: “Stand where you are supposed to be standing”(Sacred Fire, 274). Brother, where are you supposed to be standing? Keeping your garden well is rarely a matter of having a new epiphany or changing your entire life; keeping your garden well often looks like becoming more aware of your already-present commitments and coming through for them in more consistent ways. 

Come through on your commitment to be present to your wife by offering her your undivided attention as she shares about her day. 

Come through on your commitment to your brothers by walking in the light with them, and by bringing your true self into the light. 

Come through on your commitment to your coworkers by refusing to be a conduit for cynicism and frustration. 

Come through on your commitment to Jesus by confessing your sins, stepping into the light, and letting the Gospel you already know abide in you deeply. 

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P.S. Registration is LIVE for our January 27th Light Night! Dust off that chili and cornbread recipe and register today.