Michael Phelps Had to Learn to Put His Face in the Water: Thoughts on Faith

A good friend called tonight. My friend is worried about life after death. I sense that my friend wants to believe in God, but it’s hard.

1. Making a choice.

I know. I wasn’t a believer all my life. I had to choose to believe.

I thought hard about believing with my young mind. I couldn’t argue myself into faith. I couldn’t argue myself out of faith. God was a question mark in my mind.

Finally, I said: look, it makes sense to believe. If you’re right, heaven is your reward. But if you’re wrong, at least you’ll live by a moral code (hopefully), namely Christianity. As for sacrifices, all you’ll give up are things you probably need to give up anyway.

2. It can be hard at first.

Faith can be like working out. It can be hardest when you start. But if you stick with it, it gets easier as time goes by. Just like you develop skill and strength and endurance in a sport, you develop habits of mind and habits of behavior in religion.

Another analogy. Politics for some people is boring. For me it’s exciting. But that’s after years of reading and studying it. I bring knowledge and opinions to each new thing that I learn. My mind grasps political news like a child grasps a new toy.

For me, most sports are as boring as politics are exciting. But other people are the opposite. They have spent years following a sport. They know the nuances. They watch a football game with knowledge and understanding and therefore with enjoyment.

When I take friends to bullfights, I am careful to explain as much as I can about what goes on in the ring. When I do that, my friends enjoy it. If I don’t, the bullfight is pointless to them and painful to watch. That is, I try to get them past the boring part when what happens before their eyes is meaningless.

Religion is like that. Until you reach a certain critical mass of knowledge, it’s over your head and therefore not stimulating. But as your knowledge grows, religion becomes to you like sports are to your friends who can carry on at length about the Rams or the Raiders.

3. You need help.

It’s August, and the pool where I work out is filled with the Summer Olympics crowd – people who get inspired by watching races and head to the pool. In a couple of weeks, things will be back to normal. Most of the people will lose interest after the Olympics end. Some will keep at it, and those swimmers will get better and better as time goes by.

I see some folks who seem to have no idea how to benefit from being in the water. I figure them for short-timers. But if they were to join a team, where they could get advice and coaching, they would benefit. That would increase the likelihood that they will stay with it until they get good at it.

Faith is like that. If you don’t have a background in faith, you need help. The best help is friends or family. They won’t tire of coaching you about your faith. Lacking that, it’s good to find a church that has serious opportunities for discipleship – adult classes, good teaching.

You could read, too. I like Richard Foster’s book, The Celebration of Discipline. It’s about Christian discipleship.

4. Don’t get discouraged.

I talk to friends who are getting into shape. Sometimes they feel self-conscious because their workouts aren’t all that great. I try to encourage them. I say that any workout is a good workout. The trick is staying with it – building. That happens to be true.

Religion is like that. Not all churches are great. But just going to church regularly creates a cadence, a rhythm of religion. And that’s a good thing. Some churches are toxic; but if your church isn’t, don’t be too judgmental. Just go.

5. Just try. But make it a good try.

My best advice about faith to the uninitiated? Just try it. It might take; you might like it. If not, you’ve lost little.

But give it a good try. Think about it like taking up a sport, or learning a hobby, or learning a career. Those take time. They take help. Faith is like that.

And, honestly, faith requires something more. Yes, it requires effort from you; but it also requires grace. And that's something that comes from outside of you, something beyond your control. But if you feel a thirst for faith, that's evidence of grace already.

If you are fortunate, you will run into people who encourage you. You will find a preacher who appeals to your mind. If you are fortunate, you will stick with faith long enough for it to become a habit. It will give new meaning to your life.

Hopefully, you will be like I was with swimming – I stayed with it. I hope you aren’t like I was with piano lessons – I gave them up before I was good at it.

God be with you. May God bring you to the land of uprightness.