What Is with Fickle Faith?

Visit almost any university campus in the US and you will find a common phenomenon: a beautiful central campus surrounded by church buildings representing a host of denominations. Those churches represent a day when the university and the church worked side-by-side in the development of our nation’s future leaders. Students and community members gathered en masse to worship Jesus and celebrate the good news. Those churches were packed!

But something has happened in the ensuing decades. Today those historic church buildings are often either abandoned or nearly so. They stand as haunting sentinels of a bygone day. It is a startling turn of events.

In many ways, those mostly-empty churches are a metaphor for the ongoing experience of college students who have some kind of a spiritual awakening during their days on the campus, but once the pressures of adult life kick in, the “pomp and circumstance” of the college days sometimes fades, as does the passion for Jesus. Trek the spiritual journey of many recent college grads, and it grows as lifeless and empty as those church buildings.

Sobering. What are we to make of this?

Want a shocking reality check? This trend toward spiritual apathy is not new. We don’t have a corner on this market. In fact, this has been the trend since the beginning of church history. Jesus knew this would be the case, and he forewarned us of the temptation to lose our zeal for Jesus.

There are many who start a walk with Christ with a bang and then fizzle sometime later. What is going on here?

Take it back 2000 years

If you have read through the Gospels in the New Testament (the narratives that chronicle the life and teachings of Jesus Christ) then you have seen that many (I mean, MANY) people responded to Jesus by dropping everything in order to follow him. Some were healed. Some were fascinated by his sharp encounters with religious leaders. Some were curious. “Is this a Nazarene? Seriously? And a carpenter’s son—just a regular guy? But those miracles! Those teachings! I have to hear more from him. I want to know what else he has up his sleeve!”

So they followed. By the scores . . . then the hundreds . . . then the thousands! The beginning of Jesus’s earthly ministry seemed like a runaway success story. With no sponsors, no social media, nothing but the word-of-mouth excitement to get everyone you know to come and follow, everyone knew about this Teacher. Had anyone ever garnered a following like this before?

But Jesus wasn’t flattered or caught up in the moment. In fact, he had a very realistic view of what was happening. He wasn’t cynical mind you—no, he was and is omniscient. He knows. The apostle John summarized it this way: “Many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all” (John 2:24 CSB). Jesus knew what was happening in people’s hearts, and even more, he knew what was about to happen.

If you have read the accounts, you also know what is coming. The crowds would soon begin to thin. Some got offended. Some got bored. Some didn’t like the looks they were getting from the religious elite. Some even joined up with the ones who wanted to silence this man—permanently.

Here is the thing—the beginning of Jesus’s life and ministry was a portent of the way things would go through the ages. We shouldn’t be shocked or bewildered. People—sometimes crushing numbers of people—will hear about Jesus and begin to follow him. They take their stand right along with the legit believers and seem to be the real deal. Then . . . where’d they go? Some bolt, some wander, some fizzle . . . but the next thing you know, they aren’t around anymore. 

The Sower and the Seed

Jesus told a parable that was to prepare us for this fickle faith. It is known as The Sower and the Seed and is retold in the first three books of the New Testament. It is Jesus’s memorable metaphor for the hard, confusing, saddening and painful experience we have all had—watching a “follower” suddenly stop, well, following. For those who are not deeply rooted in Jesus, the pressures of life, myriad distractions, persecution, or a fundamental misunderstanding of who Jesus is can whither their initial burst of commitment to the Christian life.

Take heart, disciple of Jesus. Fizzling out is not the inevitable plight of all who repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ! Hear me on this: Jesus does not want you to be afraid or disquieted as you see this parable play out. In fact, this story celebrates those who hold onto their faith with honest and good hearts and bear fruit (I’m talking about amazing fruit) in their lives. But he does want to prepare us for what we might see along the way.

This parable and the phenomenon it describes is the central theme of a study I wrote. Maybe it will be helpful to guide you as you seek to follow Jesus more deeply and as you love those whose faith is flagging. Most importantly, take time to read the parable and meditate on it (see Matthew 13, Mark 4, or Luke 8). Ask God to open your eyes . . . actually your ears. As Jesus prays, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen” (Mark 4:9).   

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