This post is designed to help those that are overworked and tired get a renewed perspective on their lives and their walk with Christ. This time of year we are all over worked, exhausted and tired. A busy summer has turned to fall and our lives are already busy with holidays (fall festivals / Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas) and all the details that the holidays entail. So, we would like to look at some scripture that may give us all a bit of guidance on to how Christ desires us to live. First the challenge -
Galatians 3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing--if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
We are all so “busy” with God’s work - be it teaching, preaching, organizing, directing, singing, performing or any other number of ministry roles - that we must be careful to not miss that our works are not earning us anything. We must understand / remember that salvation is a free gift, unfortunately it is easy to forget the free gift of Christ when we are busy working for Christ.
That is one of the unfortunate things about human nature. Even if we know something to be true we allow thoughts contrary to the facts to begin to color our judgement and views at times. It is difficult for humans that are always working to improve, or end, human relationships via our actions and reactions to remember that our actions do not impact our relationship with Christ. Now obviously our actions do impact God’s ability to use and/or bless us. However, our actions can neither destroy nor begin the love relationship that God and Christ has for us. We were loved by God even before we were born. Christ died for our sins while we were still lost. God put a plan to save us into motion before we were even conceived. Yet, our nature is to always think that what we are doing is either helping or hurting the salvation / love relationship that exist between ourselves and the Lord. That is simply not true.
Today as you are working hard for God, remember that God really does not need your work, or mine, to be in love with us. He also does not need our labor to be successful. It is a tough thing for a Christian to simultaneously know their true nature and helplessness when it comes to sin and salvation, and to still remember that we are loved and important to God. The concept that God does not need us, or our work, personally, yet still loves us beyond compare is foreign to the human mind and one that most Christians tend to have out of prospective in one direction (too defeated or too proud) or the other.
We hope that you are excited about the work that God is doing through and with you at the moment. Remember however, our work stems from the love we have for God due to the work of salivation He did in our life, not from a need or requirement to work to “pay” for our salvation. Our work for Him does not make our relationship better with Him nor does it curry favor. We already have FULL access to the Father and the treasures of heaven via Christ’s work on the cross. We are co-heirs to the throne not outcasts waiting for scraps from the table. All of this is possible because we heard the good news and believed, fully accepting our sin nature and the fact that our only way to heaven is through Christ.. There is but one way to the Father and that is through the Son. Everything else we do in this life is unimportant. We either answer the call to follow Christ or we decide to reject the offer of Christ in our life. That decision alone is the only one that determines our relationship with God.
Now for how to react to God -
Luke 1:39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
Most everyone knows the above story. Normally we look at this scripture around Christmas time and talk about how Jesus’s birth was foretold and the excitement of John the Baptist. I think by simply doing that we may miss a lesson that is great to learn year around.
Of course, Mary is pregnant with Jesus when she goes to she Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Typically, we discuss how Jesus and John were foretold at some point. Normally we include a bit of discussion about Elizabeth’s reaction, and the reaction of John in his mother’s womb. These reactions are very informative even when not discussing the birth of Jesus.
When we are in the presence of the Lord, like John and Elizabeth were, we know it or at least we should. The lesson to learn is that our reaction should be one of wonder and excitement, not fear. Elizabeth immediately knew that Mary was pregnant with the Savior of Man, the only Son of God, Jesus. She immediately wants to know what she has done to deserve such a honor. That heart and spirit of amazement, that wonder in wanting to know what incredible things God wants to do with her that He would personally come visit her, is the very thing that made her a usable vessel. When God comes to visit we should want to know why He is there, and what He has for us that is so important that He is taking the time to personally visit with us.
The secret is that God comes to visit us ALL the time, but we rarely feel honored and wonder about why He came to visit. Many of us reach a point where a visit from God is not much more eventful to us then a routine phone call. Such a visit should be so much more to a believer. The Creator of the Universe is coming to talk to one small spec of His creation, what a honor. If we worked for a large company and the CEO came to visit we would get excited, even if the CEO came by once a week to see us. It would always be a special event to us. Yet we loose that awe and wonder when we are around God, and that should not happen. Each visit, each word, each direction from The Lord should be received by us in a spirit of honor and awe, not with passiveness and malaise.
The same spirit of excitement of being in God’s presence can be seen when we look at John’s reaction. He leapt in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary entered. Do we leap for joy when we go to church? When we study? When we pray? When we serve? When we minister? Yet every time we do these things we in the presence of the Lord. That spirit of excitement is the thing that allows us to stay strong when the bad times come. Our excitement about God being in our life shows the world that we know that better times are coming even when those times do not seem possible. Most of all, God’s presence tells us that we are not alone in anything. God is working not just beside us, but for us as we work for Him. John knew that the Lord was near and that nearness made him excited, that is the way we should be when we serve and work for the Lord.
We hope you are excited by and about God today. Hopefully you know His call on your life and feel His presence in your world. Have a great day in the Lord.
