When I was young, I liked to go hunting with my dad and brother. We would go out many weekends every fall for small upland game in southern Wisconsin and then don our orange apparel and join the throngs to search in vain for whitetail bucks. In all those years of hunting, I probably shot a hundred rounds or so through my little economy single-shot, break action 20 gauge shotgun at partridge and pheasants. Although I carried the same shotgun for a few years of deer hunting, I shot zero rounds at deer. In all of those hunting experiences, my economy shotgun never failed. The gun was mechanically fit for the little that I used it. But that all changed when my son joined the trap team and started to actually work the gun.
In his first year, he used my single shot and he would shoot around 50 rounds a week with the team. We would go out the next day and collect the unbroken clays that we could find and shoot some more. I threw my arm out throwing by hand that first year until, a thousand rounds later, he could break more than he missed. The next year was 2020 and we continued to shoot on our own. By then I had upgraded to a spring activated thrower. Another thousand or so rounds and he was breaking upwards of three quarters of the moving targets. By the next year, he was getting pretty good and the team was back in action. But then, now that the shotgun was working hard, things started to fall apart. That gun simply could not withstand the thousands of rounds fired by my son. First, the firing pin started missing on rare occasion. Before that got too bad, the barrel literally fell off. That little economy 20 gauge was not designed for several thousand rounds. At that point, he inherited another economy pump action shotgun. After several hundred rounds through that shotgun, it broke, too. While searching for parts on the internet, we found out that this brand was not made for quality. We fixed it anyway, only to have it break again a few hundred rounds later. At that point, my son bought a quality shotgun that has held up for many thousands of rounds without any issues. You see, most of the “economy” shotguns are not designed to hold up for many thousands of rounds. The reason I am writing this is because a few years ago I bought an economy 20 gauge for my daughters and you can guess what happened. Just last week, the firing mechanism wore out completely, after only two and a half years, around 2500 rounds. If you are going to have a shotgun that you intend to use weekly, that is, put it to work. Save yourself some trouble. Buy a quality shotgun.
The same applies to our faith. Are you an “economy” type of Christian or a quality Christian? An “economy” Christian goes to church when it is convenient. An “economy” Christian prays when others are watching. An “economy” Christian reads the Bible when there is some spare time. The “economy” Christian does not work their faith any more than I worked my shotgun as a child. Faith for the “economy” Christian is something that is carried, like my shotgun on a hunting trip, but rarely used. If you are an “economy” Christian, you may not have any perceived problems with your faith. You may think that your faith is in working order. But watch out! The day is going to come when the Holy Spirit will compel you to go out and work your faith. And when you start working your faith, you will expose yourself to all of those problems that Satan holds back for God’s servants. When you start witnessing, people will start challenging you. When you start serving, the community will resist. When you start going to church every Sunday, your family will jeer. When you start sacrificing, your neighbors will send you a guilt trip. There is only one way to protect yourself from falling apart and becoming useless to God when Satan starts to throw his fiery darts in your direction. Get rid of your “economy” faith and start investing your precious time and resources into a quality faith that will hold up to the work that God expects from all Christians.
“But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2:18-20