Fatigue
Hebrews 12:12-15
„Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;”
There is quite a lot of information in this short verse. For example, we can not see the Lord because of the lack of holiness. So we can clearly see how important holiness is. Also mentioned in the verse that we should not fail of the grace of God,… uh… so can we fail? Of course we can fail! We must keep the grace of God, but we can also say that: we must appreciate it! For if anyone willfully commit sins, that person will use grace as a cover-up for evil (1Peter 2:16). And anyone who acts according to the will of God, watching over their actions, keep and appreciates the grace of God. But today we are targeting the section of this short verse that is about drooping hands and weak knees.
What do these mean? How do these manifest themselves in our lives? We don’t have to think much about what these mean, but we’ll talk about that a little later. But first, let’s talk about how these manifest in our lives. Let’s start with the fact that this couldn't happen, since in the verse we can read it as an encouragement and even as an instruction to straighten them and make straight paths! We must walk on the path of faith, we must walk worthy of our calling, and not be weary:
2Peter 1:1-11
„Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
What is our calling? The fact that we have become children of God is why we must walk worthy of it. So if we have truly become children of God, let that be reflected in our behavior as well. We must glorify God not only in words, but much more in our actions. To following Jesus does not mean that we go on vacation, but means following His actions, as the apostles did!
Colossians 1:1-15
„Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
So what does it mean to walk worthy of the Lord?
„so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
How to walk worthily? What does the Lord like? To bear fruit with all good deeds!
Not with drooping hands and weak knees. Because the feet carry us and the hands act! We cannot get tired, we cannot bargain with our current situation, we cannot leave the first love.
Revelation 2:4-5
„But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
Just think, if the apostles were tired, how could we now read about their fruitful lives? Because they were beaten several times for their faith, scolded, imprisoned, put to death, yet they did not stop doing good.
Therefore, neither can we have a reason to be tired of following the Lord, of doing service, of doing good. There will always be troubles, difficulties, pains in the life of a true believer, but if we look at these, we are not doing the will of the Lord. Many people wanted to kill Jesus many times, He was hungry, tired, He carried the weakness of others, yet He was not tired of his good deeds. Nor should we, we must walk as He has set an example for us!
2Timothy 2:3-7
„Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”
If we are truly the warriors of the Lord, let us fight for the truth, let us fight for purity, for the glory of the Lord. We cannot take a day off from our life as a believer, we must live in it at every moment of every day.
1Timothy 6:12
„Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
Eternal life is not to be accepted, but to be won, to be seized, to be gained! Do not lay down your spiritual weapon Brethren!
Antal Farkas
(August 29, 2020)
