When I Was Almost a Sailor

Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work. 1 Kings 5:15-16

Years ago, someone gave me a sailboat. I saw this as a grand gift, as I pictured myself sailing around our lake on weekends, enjoying the serenity of the wind and the waves. What I didn’t calculate was the amount of work it was going to be to actually sail. We lived on the lake and so, I thought I could just go from sitting on my couch to sailing in a couple minutes. The sailboat sat on a trailer in my yard though, which had to be driven to the launch. Then, I had to learn how to assemble the sailboat, which was no small feat for a land lubber like me. Also, I knew next to nothing about sailing. So, that sailboat sat on its trailer in my yard for a couple of years before I made a gift of it to someone else who was as naïve as I had once been. The sailboat had been free, but accepting the sailboat didn’t make me a sailor. To actually sail would have cost me a significant amount of time and effort, which I remained unwilling to give. I was no sailor.

This, I think, is a good analogy for my faith. Growing up in an evangelical tradition of Christianity, we emphasized the free gift of salvation. I was rightly taught that I cannot earn God’s love, and I cannot save myself. Christ has done the work of restoring me to the father. To be a Christian, all I must do is accept this free gift. What evangelicalism is light on mentioning, is all the work that must follow. Yes, salvation is free, but if my faith is worth anything, it will cost me everything. If I truly want the new life, the old one must go, and that means sacrifice, which is hard work. If I want to be sober, I must make the radical changes necessary to cut drugs out of my life. In my efforts I don’t save myself, but if my faith is real, then I must follow Christ, which means hard work and radical life changes.

This, to me, is the lesson of today’s passage. In the story, God blessed the Israelites with peace and prosperity. They didn’t earn God’s love. He simply loved them and blessed them. The only proper response for the Israelites was to give back to God, in this case by building a temple. This was no small feat though. This was a massive undertaking. To accomplish the task, Solomon drafted thousands of workers, laboring over several years, while spending a fortune on the project. God’s love was free, but if they loved God in return, it cost them something.

I’d like for faith to mean that we get something for nothing. That God would give us the new life with no personal cost or sacrifice. Enjoying the new life though, means letting go of the old one, which will likely be painful, hard work. It is, of course, more than worth it. I’m not trying to talk anyone out of it. I’m just saying we shouldn’t pretend that faith costs us nothing.