When you're weary…

Let us not become weary in doing good,for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6

I have five posts halfway written. But last night, as I stared at this screen and at the empty queue of posts ready to be published, I couldn’t force myself to finish any of them.

That’s the funny thing about writing. You just can’t force it to happen. I can grit my teeth and scrub the toilet, or make dinner, or fold laundry. But I can’t grit my teeth and make words–at least not real ones–come out on this page. They wind up being hollow, or worse, fake.

I’ve promised you no fakey fake around here, so here we are. This past Sunday Jeff preached the verses above, as we looked at being servants, helping one another and seeking to do good to one another, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

But the first five words of this passage have been echoing through my mind all week: Let us not become weary…

Why does Paul need to write that exhortation?

Because we get weary. 

Jeff talked about the three stages of “doing good.”

1. Excitement (this doing good thing is fun!)

2. Weariness (all the fun has worn off why am I still doing this????)

3. Harvest (real fruit is born, we reap the benefits)

There was definitely the initial “excitement” phase with planting a church. Just like there’s an excitement phase with getting married, having a baby, starting some new ministry. But as sure as death and taxes, we are sure to grow weary along the road when it just seems there are so many diapers to change, and so many jobs to do, and so many little people looking up to us, and so many problems, and so many emails, and just so many things that lean hard into us.

It’s not that we’re doing anything wrong; we’re actually doing good. 

It just gets wearying sometimes. 

This was our topic of discussion yesterday, a few of us “do gooder” gals sitting in a circle, stealing a rare moment of hot-tea and conversation.

Apparently I’m not the only one who feels this way. 

You too?

So what’s the remedy? Not the once-and-for-all remedy, but the for-today remedy. Where do we go for the anti-weary pill? Not the coffeepot. Not the fridge. Not facebook.

We must go to the gospel. 

…Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus got weary. Real weary. He was able to endure–and save our souls–because He looked ahead to future joy.

We must do the same.

When I look at Shawna and  life makes no sense and it seems everyone is sick and dying and tragedy is striking all around — we must look ahead to future joy and know there is a time when God will make all things new, wipe every tear from our eyes, and right every wrong.

When election results discourage us — we must look again to our unshakable Kingdom and our unchanging King and ask Him to do IN us what we want to see done in our country.

When our day’s work feels endless and there’s no fruit to be seen and no change on the horizon and we feel like we live on a treadmill— we must know that we are training for some glorious good.

Anything less than the glorious gospel of grace will not give us the strength to overcome the weary-days of life. And the gospel boils down to one word:

Love.

Love is that antidote for weariness in doing good.

Love is what held Christ to the cross and love is us what holds our hands to the plow and what wipes the tears and noses and counters and bottoms and keeps us smiling when we have to ask them three-hundred-and-fifty-three times to pick up those dirty socks off the floor. *smile*

Let us not grow weary.

{Oh friends, I pray you would not grow weary in doing good, but be filled with the LOVE of Christ and hold on, reaping a bountiful harvest in time. Do not give up, girlfriend! Praying for you today; thanks for reading.}