She was a young woman, maybe early thirties. We were chatting in a public place… small talk. When our conversation turned Godward I asked, “Do you have a faith?” She pondered, then looked at me. “I think I can honestly say I’ve given it my best effort…” Just then we were interrupted, and our brief chat was over. My forlorn feeling was like waving goodbye to a train leaving me at the station.

If she had been available and willing, I would have asked more questions. What effort did she make? What expectations weren’t met? You really can’t help someone on their spiritual journey without quite a bit of listening. I had already reminded her that God loves her. The rest of the conversation might have been about why someone would return that love.

Perhaps I would have explained that we live in a moral universe and why it matters. Think about your own sense of right and wrong. You have a conscience, an innate sense of morality. If you think that Hitler ought not have committed violence, oppression, and hate, why isn’t that just an opinion? Isn’t nature about survival of the fittest? Yet you know that oppression, slavery, and genocide are absolutely wrong regardless of nature or how others feel. That implies a transcendent moral order and a moral lawgiver. His moral standard is perfection, which eludes your best efforts. That matters to a holy God. You need to be reconciled to Him. You need a Savior, Jesus.

Jesus encountered some less-than-perfect people. Even as a certain woman washed and anointed His feet, his dinner companions wondered if He knew what “sort of person” she was. Of course He did. He turned their concerns into a story about two debtors. One owes much, the other little. The lender forgives both debts. Point being, the one who was forgiven much would have more love toward his lender.

Then Jesus made the story personal. He pointed out that his hosts offered none of the usual gestures of kindness when he entered the home. It was the woman who showed great love toward him. She loved much because “her sins, which are many, have been forgiven.” They did not love because they sensed no need for forgiveness from God (Luke 7).

If you want to “give it your best effort,” contemplate morality and your need for forgiveness. Consider God’s holiness and Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross in your place. There you’ll find your reason to believe and return God’s love because He loved you first.

I hope our unfinished chat that day renewed the young woman’s conversation with God. If she continues it, perhaps she will also hear the words Jesus said to a certain woman. “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”