Faith in Progress

This past weekend I help a couple good friends re-roof their house. I spent all day Friday and Saturday taking the old roof off and putting the new one on. Despite the blisters, sore muscles, and smashed thumbs, it was an enjoyable time. There’s a part of me that has always enjoyed hard work and manual labor. I think growing up raising livestock and having good parents instilled some of those values in me. However, I’ve found myself really enjoying manual labor more and more the past couple years.

I think I enjoy manual labor so much because it is concrete. You work hard, things get done, and progress is visible. You could see how much of the old roof was gone by the end of Friday. And as the hours ticked by on Saturday you could see the progress with each new shingle laid. I’ve been drawn to manual labor more the past couple years because of the subjectivity of dealing with the spiritual lives of other people. Spirituality is anything but concrete, and you can’t always see visible signs of progress. There are many times I wish I could track the progress in a student’s heart of removing their old self and putting down new shingles of Christ in their life. Often after teaching a lesson, preaching, or having one-on-one conversations I’m not sure what progress is being made.

There are visible markers of a student’s spiritual progress; lifestyle changes, servant hood, baptism, church attendance, and others. That’s why James says “I will show you my faith by what I do.” But assessing a person’s heart is a subjective and unclear thing. I wish I could watch each shingle of faith being nailed down in a student’s life. While I’m not sure why God set up things that way, I realize it boils down to faith: Faith that God is working through me to reach students. Faith that Christ is bringing other people into their lives. Faith in the Holy Spirit to tug on their hearts. Faith in progress that I can’t always visibly see.