FRAZZLED or RESTING?
In recent weeks something has been trecking through my mind with such a heavy tread, that I just have to express it in writing. Of course I have to condense it or I'd never finish scribbling.
I have an increasing concern for busy Christians, many of them in leadership and some of them weary and frustrated. Yet many of them, while recounting how busy they are, go on to speak of the many other things in which they think they should be involved. With none of these do I doubt the sincerity of their motives nor their love for the Lord Jesus. But I trust that none will be so unwittingly trapped by the pressure to perform and accomplish and succeed, that they will forget that: Faithful is He that called you, WHO will also DO IT (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
Does it really mean that --- that whatever God has called me to, He will do?
Are you frazzled, frustrated, feel like quitting? Are you finding the Christian life a real pain? I've got a 222 for you; that is Acts 2:22, "Jesus, a MAN approved of God by miracles, wonders and signs which GOD DID by Him." This actually says that the God-approved Man did no miracles, signs or wonders but that God did it all, by Him, because He was available to God for all that God wanted to do through Him.
We strive, work and sing, "I wonder have I done my best for Jesus." Let me think about that. What would the Creator of angels, planets, stars, mountains, every form of life and etc., need or want with my best? Even if my best was not like filthy rags? About Himself, Jesus said plainly, "I can of My own self do nothing. The Father Who lives in Me, He does the work" (John 5:30, John 14:10). If the sinless Jesus could do nothing except allow the Father to work through Him, isn't it futile for me to think I can do anything of eternal significance for God?
After all (Philpians 2:13), it is God Who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Well, if it is God Who wills and does the work, where do I come in? I don't; that's where I go out and simply present my body to the Lord Jesus as He once presented His body to the Father and allow Him to work through me now by the Holy Spirit, as the Father worked through Him then by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus didn't say, "I get involved in every good thing that needs to be done." He said, "I do always those things that please the Father (John 8:29). What things should I do that would please the Father? Wouldn't it be those particular things He has already prepared specifically for me? The good works God has called me to (Ephesians 2:10) are already arranged for me and if I walk in obedience, I will simply walk into them and be amazed at what God works out. Are we so busy working for God that we miss the specific good works designed for us?
Sometimes I'm assaulted by a wave of false guilt as I consider that others are doing so much more than I am. Then the Holy Spirit reminds me that: We can never be too weak -- just too strong. Paul begged the Lord to remove his thorn/weakness. But God said His strength shows up most effectively in our weakness because then it is clear that God has to do whatever is to be done.
We can never be too simple -- just too smart. God promised Abraham a son by aged, barren Sarah. But time went by so Abraham began to figure it out for himself, took things into his own hands and had a son by Hagar. All Ishmael did was delay Isaac's coming. Ishmael's name means WAR. Isaac's name means LAUGHTER. When Abraham insisted on doing his thing for God, he didn't have peace. When he allowed God to do something for him, he had joy. Nobody could doubt that God had done it.
We can never be too few -- just too many. Gideon was going to do God's work with 32,000 men (Judges 7:3,7). But the Lord said that with that many men, Gideon and others might think that Gideon had accomplished it himself. With only 300 men, it was unmistakable that God had done it.
When we are weak and simple and few, then if anything is being accomplished, it is demonstrably obvious that God is doing it.
Just like the man whose friend came at midnight (Luke 11:6), we have nothing of ourselves to give to anyone. We can only go to our FRIEND, Who is always immediately willing to supply through us all that is needed to provide lasting value and eternal significance for others.
Whew! What a relief! That takes the pressure off. We Christians are called believers, not achievers. If I am led by the pressure of the many needs or by the opinions and expectations of others, I am not being led by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus could not feed the 5000 with the disciples' 200 denarii because they reckoned only with the circumstances and their own ability. But He could feed the 5000 with a little boy's lunch because that boy knew the circumstances didn't matter as long as Jesus was in them. He reckoned with Jesus. Am I measuring things by the circumstances or by His Presence? Because He fully trusted the Father, Jesus had only two things to say in response to whatever came into His life --- YES and THANK YOU.
Do we insist on slugging it out for Jesus --- exhausted, frustrated, feeling that God is demanding too much of us, often tempted to give up on the whole thing? When all the time the indwelling Holy Spirit wants to energize us with the very Life of God and express through us the Resurrection Life and Victory of the Lord Jesus. If we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son while we were His enemies, much more certainly, now that we are reconciled, we shall be saved daily by His Resurrection Life (Romans 5:10). It wasn't until David was flat on his back (Psalms 116) that he learned this lesson. He wondered what he could do for God, how he could repay God for all His benefits but he found out that he could only keep on taking from the Giver of every good gift. I will take the cup of salvation and then for every step I take, I will take and I will take and I will take.
So, let us enter into rest by believing (Hebrews 4:11) that God really meant it when He said that all the good works He has called us to, He is abundantly able and longing and pledged to do through us. Not of works, never of works (Ephesians 2:9). Are we so foolish as to think that, although we received the Holy Spirit by believing, we can now live the Christian life by doing our best, by depending on the flesh?(Galatians 3:2-3)
Jesus died for us in order to give Himself to us and live His Life through us (Galations 2:20).
Jesus did not say, "Take My yoke upon you and work until you drop." He said, "Take My yoke upon you and LEARN OF ME." TAKE ... not PERFORM. LEARN ... not EARN.
Be we individual or church, let us beware the experience of the church at Ephesus. They were doctrinally correct, Biblically sound and busy-busy-busy with good works. BUT ... they didn't even realize that, in it all, JESUS WAS MISSING!