They had been at sea for 34 days. The constant southern sun beat against the crew as the endless ocean stretched out before them. “Three more days and no more,” that had been the decree of the crew, their bodies and eyes weathered by disappointment and false hope. Almost daily for nearly a month they had spotted birds that live on land. The sightings taunted them that they must be near land, yet morning after morning dawned to the same blank sea. They had experienced seaweed, fine green grass, and herbs, but still no sight of land. Twice the cry, “Land Ho!” had been sounded, twice the cannons fired, and twice Gloria in excelsis robustly sang around the decks. Twice it had been a false alarm. There was constant whispers of mutiny. The desperate and angry cries of the sailors repeatedly had to be pacified by the faith and stubbornness of the Admiral. On and on the Niña went. On and on the frustrations grew. Now it had reached critical mass. Either find land or turn back. Here in the darkness of uncertainty, despair, and unfulfilled hopes the Admiral reached back to gather strength from a history of faithfulness. He was to record, “God dealt with [me] and with [the crew] as He dealt with Moses and the Jews when He drew them from Egypt showing signs to favor and aid [Moses]…” When the crew presented the Admiral with this finally ultimatum, Christopher Columbus was to state, “However much [you] might complain, [I have] to go to the Indies, and [I will] go on until [I find] them, with the help of our Lord.” One day later, on a Tuesday, October 11th, 1492, Columbus arrived in the West Indies. As he stepped foot onto dry land, the modern history of the Americas began.

I contrast that with myself at a fast food drive-thru lane. I can hardly wait 3 minutes to get my greasy pile of death (commonly referred to as a hamburger in English). I was reading in John chapter 6 last week and saw myself vividly in the pages. Jesus had just performed two back-to-back miracles. In the first one he took a couple of fish sandwiches and a few loaves of WONDER brand bread (or something like that) and created enough food to feed over 5,000 people and still have a pile of leftovers for the unappreciative children to take to school for weeks. “Fish again, Mom!?”  Then, the disciples decided to pile into the only boat available and  attempt to paddle across the sea only to get into a pickle and start to sink. Jesus comes to their rescue by walking ON water and instantaneously calms the disciples fears and the sea.

Here is where I enter the story. The next day the crowds awoke from their food induced comas and realized the show had left the building. So, they got into newly arrived boats and went searching for Jesus. Why were they searching for Jesus? To commit their lives and their hearts to him? To worship him as their savior? To learn vast spiritual truths? No. They were hungry. Jesus told them, “You want to be with me because I fed you.” They wanted another free meal. They saw the almighty Son of God, not as Lord, Savior, and Master, but as a powerful friend that could get them stuff. The didn’t want a transformation, they wanted more treats and toys. They didn’t want Holy Jesus, they wanted Pot-Luck Jesus. How many times do we see God as a meal truck? “Alright, God, what are you going to do for me now?” As “fire insurance” like some frustratingly annoying preachers call it? Do we view God and Christ as worth infinitely more than what they can do for us or do we tie our vision of God to the blessings He does or doesn’t give us?

Verses 28-31 shows the real crux of the problem. Jesus tells them to stop striving after perishable things, but instead go after spiritual things.  The people say yes, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” And there is humanity’s problem in a single sentence. “What should we do?” We are always trying to buy things that can not be bought. With our money, with our effort, with our “goodness”, we think that we can purchase spiritual things. Christ gave a different way. He told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” Simple. Belief in Jesus Christ; in his position as fully God and fully man, in his sinless life, in his willing death on the cross for our sins, and in his triumphant resurrection from the grave, that is the only “work” that God desires.

The answer the crowd gives to this beautiful truth is nearly unbelievable. I say “nearly,” because I sadly see my own corrupt heart reflected too many time in these lines. One day after this crowd had sat and watched Jesus take two fish and a couple things of bread and multiple it into a feast for thousands upon thousands, they had the audacity to declare, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do?” This same crowd that had been following Jesus across the country watching him heal sick, dying, blind, crippled, and possessed people still needed more proof! When Christ calls on them to make a commitment, to believe in Him, to put their full faith in Him, to do something, they say, “Well…I don’t think I have seen enough. I know you did somethings yesterday, but what can you do for me today?”  Are we this crowd? After all the things God has done for us, do we still say, “I don’t know. Show me more?” Are we only consumed with the recent and the present? Does our faith rely on the speed that our desires are met? In other words, do we have a debit card faith? Do we have a faith that is cheap and flimsy, with no substance or weight? A faith that values convenience and ease above all else. Is our faith easily put away out of sight when others come around? The problem is that this kind of faith, in the end, for all it’s convenience and spiritual flash, has no real value. It is like a debit card, because faith for faith’s sake has no inherent value. It’s “worth” of faith is the object of that faith.  The person or the thing that we put our faith in is what makes the faith important. Nobody has faith in a debit card. They have faith in a bank. They have faith in money. Our faith is important because it is in the Good God and His faithfulness.

I think there is a better way. Let’s carry our faith around like a sack of gold. Each coin a precious reminder of a past experience where God has been faithful. Every bar of gold a period of blessing and every knotted nugget a token of our trials and valleys within the shadow of death that God has guided us through. Let us feel the weight of our faith, because we know the power and the promises of our God and Savior. Let others see our faith and be impressed, even jealous. Like gold coins on a table, so our faith should draw eyes and stares. We should cherish it and guard it like a sacred treasure, knowing there are those that wish nothing more than to snatch from us. May we live lives that are proud, not in our works, as if they are important, but in the faith that our God can do great things with us. May we together throw away our plastic, thin faith and may God grant us each a faith of gold.