What has attracted me to Seven Storey Mountain over the years is the process of coming to faith. Merton sees his life in process and even when he “comes to faith,” it’s a process.
The passage of his confession and baptism into the Catholic Church is still one of the most moving passages I have ever read. He details the weight that is lifted off his shoulders, the confession of faith, the renouncing of the devil, the exorcising of demons from his life (and he knows they left), and so much more.
When he knew he needed to come to faith and decided to become Catholic, it wasn’t our typical “altar call.” He sought out the priest he knew and the priest gave him three books, telling him to read the books, consider what he was doing, then come back.
That’s just not “godly!” 😉
We could use far more consideration of what God may be doing in our lives and less “spur of the moment” activity. We need to recognize what God is doing all along the way, and even when we have someone come and say, “I want to come into the Kingdom,” we still need to have the fortitude to say, “Let’s consider this.”
I think it may help us from erasing all those notches on our “gospel gun belt.” You know… we have our “gospel gun” like the old West and when someone comes to faith because of our “sharing the faith,” we put a “notch” on our belt. Trouble is, we “shoot” so quick, a lot of those “notches” don’t seem to “stick.”
Lord, help us consider the cost of following you.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 