It never seems to fail that no matter how much sleep I get the night before, I just get as sleepy as one can get driving home from work the next day. Perhaps, it is just a byproduct of coming down after a long day at work. To my surprise, while sitting in traffic this evening, I noticed an SUV in the lane next to me fail to move when it had the green light. Out of curiosity, I looked over to see the driver had nodded off. It wasn't long before he realized what had happened and got moving. I guess I should have been concerned about the danger a tired motorist presents to others on the road. But, like I have been at times, he is probably just one of many worn down by another long day at work and, in a moment of inactivity, he tried to rest. For those of us not anywhere near retirement age, the daily grind can seem fruitless and never ending. Life can seem to be nothing more than get up, work, eat, sleep and repeat for forty years in hopes that you can retire and still have some life left to enjoy whatever amount of retirment you have earned. Is that not unlike your average Christian experience? You slave away most of your Christian life trying to please God in hopes that one day you'll be able to take a break from it all.
"One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also." Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. " Luke 11: 45-46
I was listening to a pastor talk about a question he asked another pastor regarding a new believer in Christ. What he asked was, "What is the most important instruction you can give to a new Christian?" The other pastor replied, "The most important thing for a new believer is for them to be instructed on holy living." Needless to say, this is coded language for legalism or works. In order to instruct someone on holy living, you need to give them the list of what to do and what not to do in order to live a holy life. In most cases this "holy living" revolves around such things as finding a "healthy, well-balanced" church, getting water baptized, becoming a member of the church, attending that church faithfully, getting involved in that church to some capacity and teaching others to do the same. And you're expected to this until you go to be with the Lord. This sounds great, but the motivation is all wrong. For the average new believer, they are unaware of who they are in Christ and, therefore, they are motivated by trying to please fellow Christians, and God, in the energy of their own flesh. The problem with this is twofold. One, you will eventually burnout, and, two, you have no idea of how God sees you. Jesus warned the Pharisees of putting burdens on others that wore them down. Peter later did the same by chastising the Jewish leadership for putting burdens on others even their forefathers could not bear. What do burdens do, but wear us down.
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5: 1-5
Why do people play the lottery, read the classified ads for a new career and start their own businesses amongst other endeavors? It is because they are not at peace with their position in life or their current employment situation. The prospect of more time spent, having the life zapped from them, on a job that promises little in return is enough to make them leap at the chance to do almost anything else. Christians are no different as they have no peace with God and no hope because of the endless and increasingly more difficult, burdens of trying to live the Christian life. Any opportunity to rest is taken regardless of how long or how well they rest. The Christian life becomes a chore rather than a joyful walk with the living Christ. There is nothing to rejoice about when your work is never done. There is no peace when you feel you are trying to appease a God who is never satisfied with your efforts. Even worse is the false front we put up each week at church hoping our fellow churchgoers don't see through it. As I heard a preacher exclaim once, Christians are to "fake it until you make it." In other words, we are to lie about the joy, peace and rest we are supposedly experiencing when we are not. Basically, what that says to most of us is that if we aren't experiencing the promised rest given to us by God then something must be wrong with us. Therefore, until you figure it out, act as if you have figured it out. Allthewhile, we secretly question what kind of God of love do we serve? If His yoke is light why am I so exhausted?
"You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 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? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?" Galatians 3: 1-5
If we are feeling exhausted by the Christian life, trying to obtain or sustain our rightstanding before God by what we do, maybe it is time to question what it is we believe. When we try to live the Christian life through human effort we have put ourselves back under the law. This is what leads to a feeling of being on a religious treadmill that never stops, but never seems to get us anywhere. We end up living a type of robotic existence where we just go through the motions and tire ourselves out. But, we keep at it, as best we can, because we tell ourselves that is what God wants from us. This type of existence is described as "foolish" by the Apostle Paul. We can never, nor does God expect us to, live the Christian life. If we could, then there would have been no need for Christ to have come. God could have simply let us keep trying to use the law to make ourselves righteous. But, it is the law, our self-motivated religious works, that reveal our inability to make ourselves righteous and make us turn to Christ and His righteousness. His finished work has made us holy and righteous in Him. There is nothing left for us to do except let Him live His life in and through us. No need to fall asleep behind the wheel because Jesus is driving. We can kick back in the passenger seat and catch some Z's while He gets us to our destination!
No comments:
Post a Comment