Is there any better illustration of how fickle “faith” can be than believing (or else not believing) in a sports team?

I have a borderline abusive relationship with the college football team I follow. At the beginning of the year, I’m all in. I’m reading practice reports, listening to fan podcasts, and telling myself, “This is going to be THE year!”

But if my favorite group of 18-21 year-old athletes post a couple of bad losses, I’m tempted to abandon ship. The angry, embittered scripts run wearily through my mind: “This is a waste of time, I thought this year was going to be different,” and “nothing ever changes.”

And yet, somehow, I always come back to the team who hurts me year after year.

When it comes to believing in the team I CLAIM I’m devoted to, I’m worse than a doubting Thomas. I’m more like a jaded Judas.

Our faith in God can be similar. In moments of success, we are quick to express gratitude and praise. But when the chips are down and we’re dealing with, in the words of “The Dude” in “The Big Lebowski,” “strikes and gutters,” it’s easy to doubt.

Who can forget the Buffalo Bills wide receiver who blamed God for a dropped pass in a big game when he said, “I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!!”?!

I can’t judge—I might have done the same (at least, within the quiet frustration of my soul).

Faith is Not Always Binary

Ongoing “faith,” it seems, exists more on a sliding scale and less like a box you check as “yes” or “no.”

Look at Jesus’ own disciples:

• John 6 – his followers witness his feeding of more than 5k and then later; and after hearing the “difficult” things he was saying, “many of his followers quit following him” (v. 66).
• Matthew 28 – Jesus has been raised from the dead, appears to his disciples, and still, “some doubted” (v. 17).

I sometimes wonder if Jesus had to compel his own followers to “believe” so often because their faith would frequently slide away from “highly confident” down to “doubt?”

We sometimes treat “faith” like people talk about talent—“You either have it or you don’t.”

To be sure, there comes a moment in all our lives when we must decide, “Do I believe what Jesus is saying and who he claims to be?” And once we step over that line, everything changes.

And once we profess faith in Jesus as the revealed Son of God, our faith is in its infancy. And it takes practicing our faith in community, through trials, and in the wider world in order to grow our faith.

Much like being talented in something takes thousands of hours, strengthening our faith takes PRACTICE and work.

Do you ever compare yourself to others and think, “I wish I had a GIANT faith like theirs” or “I could never take a risk like that”?

I used to feel the same way until I realized something: the people I idolize are just as normal as me; they’ve just had more PRACTICE.

Getting Practical

If you feel as if you doubt more than believe, here are some ways you can strengthen your faith and discover MORE OF GOD in the process:

🕵️‍♂️ EXPLORE!

Spend time with other believers you admire and ask them questions about their faith. Take a service trip to another country to see what God is doing outside your borders. Jesus’ disciples learned more about him by GOING with him and walking alongside him, NOT simply by reading about him.

🙋‍♂️ ASK QUESTIONS AND FIND ANSWERS

Write down your questions about God, read books, listen to podcasts, and—this is critical—COME TO CONCLUSIONS. Discuss your conclusions with others and discover with others in community. If you’re feeling stagnate in your faith, you might just be isolating yourself.

🧪 TEST YOUR FAITH

This one is hard, but pray big prayers, take risks, and give the Lord opportunities to answer your prayers. Open yourself up to the Holy Spirit and ask God to speak through worship, Scripture, healing, dreams, and other ways that might push your boundaries. And journal along the way, wrestling in ink with what’s unanswered and recognizing when God has followed through!

🤕 SEEK GOD IN SUFFERING

Jesus is the God of the cross; he has scars. In places of doubt, trial, and ambiguity, get alone with the Lord and seek His face in suffering. Emote, cry out, and join the faith of those gone before us who have done the same. If you need help, read and pray through the Psalms of Lament (e.g., Ps. 12, 44, 86). Later on, look back on those times and meditate on where/how the Lord met you.

How Faith Becomes Real

Through practices like these, I went from having a dried up, flimsy faith to experiencing the eternal life Jesus lived and described.

How?

Through practicing my faith in REAL LIFE, it too became real. Faith in God is so much more than just a mental ascent to a set of ideals—it must be LIVED.

Here’s to LIVING THE MORE of life in God through PRACTICING our faith!