The Weight Of Weariness

It is good for us to feel the weight of weariness. 

It is good for us to become weary of our many books and many voices. Even books and voices that speak of Christ. For not all who write and speak of Christ have the substance of Christ within. Many of us sit at the table of the Lord and pass around the wrappers. We pass the empty boxes and wrappers around the table. We share the outward package, but when we look inside for food, it is empty. But we just keep passing it around because it’s either the only thing we know to do, or it’s the closest thing we have to the food that’s supposed to be inside. We sit at the table of the Lord and starve because no one knows how to get food, they only know how to pass around empty wrappers and boxes. 

So, to teach us how to get food, and to keep us coming to Him alone for food, the Lord allows us to feel the crushing weight of weariness. He allows us to become weary of the packaging. He exacerbates our thirst and hunger so that we may, through our frustration, realize that packaging is not food. Secondhand relationships with Christ (knowing Christ through others’ relationships with Him), may edify and encourage, but they will not ultimately feed. Our Lord plainly told us, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.” 

And I will share with you another wise thing of the Lord. Those who are not empty wrappers and boxes may minister for a time, but then the Lord will call them away. Those who do know how to get food, and those who do pass bread and not empty wrappers around the table, will be called to step back. The Lord will do this because, while His children are called to share Him amongst themselves, they should never become the source for each other. It is a spiritually treacherous thing for one who has food to become the source of food, rather than the Lord. This is a very delicate balance one must learn to tread— to minister true food to the Lord’s children, while at the same time, not becoming their source for food. Should we ever begin to become the source and not obey Him when He says to step back, He will make us an empty wrapper. 

Jesus, seeing the hungry masses, asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?” Scripture says that Jesus asked Philip this question to test him, because Jesus already knew what He was planning to do. Philip confessed that even if they bought two hundred days wages worth of bread, what they had to offer “is not sufficient for them.” We don’t possess the amount of bread needed, Lord. Then Andrew mentioned a boy who had a few loaves and fishes. It was all they had, and they placed it into the hands of the Lord, and then the Lord Himself “distributed to those who were seated…as much as they wanted.”

In this great feeding of the hungry masses, the only two things Jesus asked His disciples to do was, “Have the people sit down,” and “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” The people were hungry, but the disciples both realized and confessed that they could not feed them, that what they had was insufficient. But they gave what little they had to the Lord. They put it in His hands, so that the Lord Himself would be both source and distributor. 

“…and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barely loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.”

When Is It Due?

“When is it due?”

My 7th Grade class just finished the book “Bruchko.” Their final project is to write a 5-paragraph essay in which they must choose three forms of conflict in the book and explain how those conflicts help to advance the plot. I have a very detailed lesson plan for this project. I have writing organizers that teach how to write a thesis statement, an introductory paragraph, topic sentences, body paragraphs, transitions, a concluding paragraph, and how to restate their thesis. I have PowerPoint presentations that we go through for each element. Once I teach an element of the paper, I review it the next day before I teach the next element. I have the lesson all planned out, step by step, everything ready to be taught and explained when it’s the right time— building my students’ understanding as each concept is learned. 

And the first thing my students wanted to know before I even began the first lesson was, “When is this due?” Followed by a barrage of panicked questions— “How do I…? What does…? What is…?” I hadn’t even begun the lesson, and the first thing they wanted to know was when it would be finished. I hadn’t even opened my mouth to begin teaching them, and their first impulse was to demand answers based on their lack of understanding. And after work that day, when I was walking out to my car thinking about the panic and fear on the faces of my sweet little 7th Graders’ faces earlier in the day, the Holy Spirit said, “You do that.”

Jesus said that everyone who hears from the Father will learn from Him. Problem is, many of us are not willing to sit through the lesson. Before the Lord even opens His mouth to speak, we ask, “When is this due? What will be accomplished?” His lesson plan is meticulously laid out, designed to build our understanding as each concept is learned, but we ask questions and demand answers before we give Him the opportunity to teach us any of it. 

We’re like Martha, “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made,” when we should be like Mary, “who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what [Jesus] said.”

(John 6:45) It is written in the Prophets: “And they will all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me…

(Heb 8:10,11) For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

(1 John 2:27) And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.

Thank You

Thank You

Thank You for frustration and futility

For starving my flesh and not allowing it to be satisfied 

Thank You for sorrow and struggle and regret and loss

For teaching me my limits by allowing me to experience brokenness 

Thank You for Your ways that are not like our ways 

For Your thoughts that are not like our thoughts

Thank You for quiet corners and dusty barns

Thank You for silent closets and lonely bedsides 

Thank You for mistakes that taught humility 

Thank You for ambitions not realized and plans unfulfilled 

And for prayers not answered

And answers not given 

Thank You for Your pruning shears 

Thank You for the many years 

Of deafened ears 

And countless tears 

As You sat near

And shaped me by Your own hand 

(Rom 8:19-21) The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Disengaging The Devil

Sometimes you just have to let the devil have the argument. 

I was starting to get into an argument with someone yesterday and the Lord reminded me that sometimes, the best answer is deafening silence. There will be times when no matter how much truth is spoken, the argument will continue, ad nauseam, because the one with whom you are arguing does not care about truth, they only care about being right. 

So, you will have to walk away, allowing them to assume they are right and that they have silenced you with their argument. And you will be humbled by your silent obedience to the Lord. And a little of your flesh will die, because you will be tempted to rebut just one more time, your flesh will cry out to have its say, but you mustn’t. For in so doing, you will be strengthened in your inner man, and you will rise above the argument itself, to where all those who walk by the Spirit dwell. 

Indeed, we are called to speak truth. But there will be times when we encounter individuals who will attempt to draw us into arguments that, if we continue to engage in them, will bring shame upon Christ’s image in us. An image that does not engage in petty, circular argument. An image that speaks the truth, and then moves on when it becomes apparent that no truth is desired. 

An image that is neither offended nor bothered to let the devil have the argument. 

(Luke 23:9) Herod questioned Jesus at great length, but He gave no answer.

(Mark 15:5) But to Pilate's amazement, Jesus made no further reply.

(Matt 26:62,63) So the high priest stood up and asked Him, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?” But Jesus remained silent…

(Matt 27:12) And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer.

(Prov 19:8,9) Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger. If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.