Let Us Not Become Weary

This morning as I sat down to pray I was really pretty empty minded, no major theme, no "word of the Lord" stirring in my heart, just kind of empty.  As I was looking forward at this new week, there was a bit of weariness in my approach, a tiredness of our present situation, a certain degree of helplessness, as in there is nothing I can do to change this present situation.  I am not one to be depressed, but I am one to become tired, to grow weary, and that is what I saw in my heart.  I thought that might be a good theme to study, and surprisingly its a pretty brief theme, only mentioned a few times in the New Testament.  First we have Jesus addressing those that are weary and then we have a couple of other encouragements from Paul and author of the letter to the Hebrews, and that is about it. 

The first set of verses are some of my favorite verses found in Matthew 11:28-30 NIV:

[28[ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I don't know about you, but I have been tired lately, feeling like I just need to sleep!  I was thinking that I just need a vacation, and its not the weariness of my body, but of my spirit.  I find this time of "social distancing" tiring as it requires me to constantly adjust my thinking, my heart attitude, my motivation.  I do well when there is much to be done, activity all around.  I enjoy the challenge and demand, and it actually energizes me!  Normally my life is cyclic, with times of intense activity, followed by slow times.  However, now the ebbs and flows are not much different, and for some reason that is more wearisome. 

Anyway, as I read these verses, I find an invitation to a different approach, an invitation to intimacy with the one who will never "social distance" Himself from me.  I find in these verses, an acknowledgement of my own state, and an opportunity to trade that which feels burdensome to me over to the Lord, for that which He provides, which will bring promised rest.

To be truthful, I haven't really taken this time to press into relationship with the Lord.  I have maintained a pretty normal daily routine, and in the evenings been focused on working through some household projects, and my honey-do list, but now that I have checked those off, I am not sure what to do!  I hear in this verse, again, an invitation to deeper relationship, to times of refreshing and rest in the Lord!  I am not sure why I haven't pursued this invitation,but I can assure you, I am going to press in starting today.

The second verse having to do with being weary comes from Paul's letter to the Galatians 6:7-10 NIV:

[7] Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. [8] Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. [9] Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. [10] Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Here Paul is speaking of weariness of doing good, of sowing to please the Spirit, and I think that is right on spot.  How many of us, myself included, have approached this time and thought, "I have all this free-time, I am going to sow to please the Holy Spirit!"?  I don't know about you, but my focus is almost 100% on myself!  What do I want to do, whether its what TV show to watch, what project to do on my list, what activity to do to keep me busy, my focus is on me.

Paul, in these verses, and the ones immediately preceding these, is addressing our focus and our activity.  He speaks of doing good, the Greek word is Kalos, and it is defined as follows:

1) beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable
     a) beautiful to look at, shapely, magnificent
     b) good, excellent in its nature and characteristics, and therefore well adapted to its ends
     c) beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy
     d) honourable, conferring honour
     e) affecting the mind agreeably, comforting and confirming

Talk about an encouraging definition, I feel better just reading this!  The point is that this is about bettering ourselves and those around us!  Its not about killing time, entertaining ourselves, distracting ourselves to make it through this period, but rather about pursuing that which makes us better!  I go back to the first set of verses from Matthew, what would make us more beautiful than pursuing the Beautiful One and becoming more like Him?

The third and final set of verses comes from the Letter to the Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV:

[1] "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, [2] fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [3] Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Two phrases stand out to me in these verses, "run with perseverance" and "grow weary and lose heart".  The picture of a long distance race seems to be the analogy in use, and while I was not a distance man in Highschool track, I ran distance for training.  I found that running was more of a mind-set than anything, for it was easy to stop running when I got tired or short of breath, but if I forced myself to continue to run, I found I had much more in me than I previously thought.  I was a sprinter and pole-vaulter, and the nice thing about those events, is you pretty much never had to force yourself to keep going.  I find I am still the same in my day to day life!  I can do anything for a short "sprint" of time, but ask me to run a marathon of consistency and focus, and I lose my way and drive within a couple of days.  I find that I can grow weary of the repetition quickly, or lose heart at the effort required and forget what my original motivation even was when I started.  I am pretty bad at finishing long-term projects, as my attention drifts away.

Here, I am being encouraged to pray for a different mindset, a different approach that I can embrace.  I need a marathon mentality, a mind-set that says I will keep on, keeping on!  I need to tell my body and mind to get over it and press onward!  Press onward into doing good, into relationship with the Lord, into sowing to the Spirit, into loving others as He loved me!  I am being encouraged to trade my weariness to the Lord, to embrace Him and set my feet on a course of His direction!

Lord, help me!  You know my inner "sprinter mentality" so help me to change to take on that marathon focus and determination!  Help me to better myself in You and at Your direction during this time!  Help me to not grow weary, but to embrace the opportunity to grow and run well the race marked out for me!

Amen!

May  the Lord grant you strength, endurance and refreshment as you pursue Him and His invitation.


Sam