Escaping Rollercoaster Christianity
Have you ever found yourself shortchanged before God?
One great pattern of error in the Christian life is living in a rollercoaster faith—the highs are high, and the lows are low. On the upswing, we feel the rush of accomplishment and satisfaction. Upon descent, we are flooded with shame, dread, and self-blame. At the highest points, we look in the mirror with pride and the righteous life we are living. In the slump of the lowest point, we sulk in shame. Maybe we even blame God for our own sinfulness and hard-heartedness.
Some variation of this up-and-down lifestyle inevitably catches all of us if we try to pursue God in our own strength. It’s more expressed in younger believers (who are still learning dependency on God), but even long-standing churchgoers find themselves in such patterns of oscillation.
When we press after God through our own will and understanding, the problem is only amplified. Our efforts to reach higher and higher just create more momentum to fall down. Religious striving and the free gift of God don’t mix together.
Jesus was teaching one day about the key to overcoming the highs and lows.
Luke 8:4-8 ESV:
And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Do you see the pattern? Wherever the soil is not ready for the seed, we see false starts, quick burnouts, and sudden decay. Don’t mistakenly call a quick-growth crop evidence of good soil.
Thankfully, this is a parable that Jesus outright explains to us. The seed represents the word of God. The soil represents our hearts. In each case, the word is sown, but only in the final example does the fruit multiply.
Luke 8:11-15 ESV:
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Notice that when the soil falls on the rock and in the thorns, the growth is fast, but it’s choked out, crowded out, and scorched in the sun. There’s growth, but it doesn’t last. In the good soil, the growth seems to be more steady and sure. Real growth takes time, but the reward is always worth it. The fruit of the good soil multiplied beyond what was sown. This is what the fruitfulness of God’s word looks like when planted in a willing and receptive heart.
We can escape rollercoaster faith by humbly, honestly, and patiently receiving the word of God in our hearts. Setting aside the persistent desire to level up with short-term gains, we can choose to come before God daily, deliberately, intentionally, and reverently.
The result is what I like to call a life of overflow.
The fruit God desires to produce in us is so abundant that we can’t possibly keep track of it. When we live in the presence of God, saturated in his Word, true spiritual growth occurs. God’s kingdom and truth begin to swell up within us from the inside out. Instead of obsessively trying to check everything off our spiritual list, we discover freedom in Christ like never before.
I want to experience this kind of overflow in my life, and Jesus teaches me that it starts when I become good soil by humbly and patiently receiving the word of God in my heart. If we can set aside our shortsighted vision for what we think God could do in us and through us, we can patiently receive the enduring and eternal word in our hearts. The result of overflow is far greater than we could imagine, and it’s sustained by God’s power, not ours.
Leave a comment below to share how this devotional impacted you today. Make sure to subscribe to our email list and sign up for the devotional texts below.
