My wife and I like to kayak. This summer, we went on an inlet of the ocean in BC. As we were getting our boats ready, we could see the wind and the waves. We noticed some whitecaps. As we paddled out, the water was against us. If we stopped for too long, we found that all our progress was lost. We were no closer to reaching our destination. I was struck by how much the Christian life is like our paddling. The winds and waves of this world are against us. It is not possible to drift into godliness (Romans 12:2; 1 John 2:15–17).

 

Growing in our spiritual life requires something from us. Progress demands that we paddle against the tide. The reality of our modern world is that if you just drift, you won’t find yourself closer to God. The current of our culture pulls away from God and righteousness, towards sin and death.

 

The values and expectations of godliness are not our natural drift. It’s easy in our world to seek our own comfort, our own happiness, our own short-term pleasure, to feel good about ourselves, to look good in front of others. It won’t come naturally to love selflessly, to give our money away, to seek the good of others above ourselves, to embrace discomfort and pain for the good of the Kingdom. Those things are like paddling upstream because Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, and this world is stained by sin (John 18:36).

 

Conversion is a turning against the tide. We recognize the way the winds are taking us and realize our lives need a different direction. We have seen a better way: the glorious light of God’s truth. We choose to seek God with this promise,

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Isaiah 29:13, ESV).

Seeking is not passive, but requires effort. Luckily, God gives us grace. He grants grace to turn around and grace to make this spiritual journey. He offers grace for our failures — second, third, fourth (and more) chances. His arms are open wide. How wonderful is that! We soon discover that while we are pursuing God, He is pursuing us!

 

CS Lewis reminds us of this truth in Mere Christianity. He writes of the ebb and flow of our actions and decisions moving us towards or away from God.  “…taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature.” But he provides a crucial clarification for those who have strayed from God: “Each of them, if he seriously turns to God, can have that twist in the central man straightened out again: each is, in the long run, doomed if he will not.”

 

Our spiritual lives are all of grace. Grace is God’s part. Our part is to employ that grace in repentance and the obedience of following Him. If we stop paddling and start drifting away, or even turn our boats away from Him, we can still cry out to God and He will turn us around, throw us a line, and give us strength to start paddling again.

 

The prize at the end of the kayak ride of the Christian life is worth all the pain and struggle of a laboriously difficult paddle upstream. The life of faith will have troubles (John 16:33). It does not always feel easy, but it does not always feel incredibly difficult either. As in paddling, getting going is the hardest part. Rhythm and momentum are a great help. Sometimes the waves are stronger, and sometimes they’re weaker. There is joy in the journey, and the more we paddle against the current, the more we gain the strength to continue. And again, Christ will help us as we lean on Him in the rapids. He is strong and knows the waters well.

 

But while the Christian life is moving against the current, it follows the desire of our hearts.

It is living in alignment with the Creator’s will and design for our good. For now, the current and our longings are opposed. To go with the current is easy, but its end is death. But when we reach our end upstream, the current switches and is aligned with our hopes and delights for the rest of eternity. How glorious that will be!