One of the most dangerous things we can do is think that a life of following Jesus will result in a more simple, comfortable, happy, light and easy life.
This is not true, why? Because Jesus never promised it. Not that he doesn’t want our lives to be more comfortable, happy, light and simple, but he knows that it is just not possible if we are to intentionally and effectively follow Jesus in this world. Some churches suggest Jesus offers an easier life because it can be a great strategy for instant growth, but it is a lie. Jesus sharing on suffering in John 16:33 says – ‘In this world you will have trouble but take heart; I have overcome the world’.
But here is the hard bit to digest, the closer we get to Jesus the more burden, pain and confusion we will experience. Why? How? Well, simply because as we follow Jesus and begin to live more and more from his strength, at the same time we still find ourselves living in a weak and sinful body. Not just that, but as our values, priorities and practices change, so our hearts and minds become more sensitive to the broken, chaotic, suffering world and more aware of the deep self-centred desires in me. Realising that we are very selfish beings can be quite a burden, its hard to accept. But its true.
Staying content even when I want to control, celebrating others even when their motive is not right, forgiving those that hurt us deeply, being patient with God and not rushing ahead, scheduling my life around Jesus rather than just trying to schedule him into my busy life are all very difficult things to do.
Once you find yourself in this tension, the most most important thing to do is to ‘take heart’, do nothing (in our own strength) and remember that this is what Jesus tells us will happen – ‘we will have trouble’. When we are in this place everything in us wants to tell us we are doing something wrong, but we are not. Paul in 2 Cor. 5 puts words to this so beautifully, he says that while we are on earth our bodies are these ‘tents’ and we
‘groan’, ‘being burdened’, ‘longing to put on our heavenly dwellings’. He paints this picture of a person who is living in this tension of the already and not-yet of the Kingdom or the ‘both and’. As believers, we live here, and we need to get comfortable with this or else we are going to live aimlessly trying in ourselves to understand something that only God can make sense of.
So, how do we sit comfortably in this tension of joy and burden?
Firstly, understand ‘grace’ properly, some would say that you in this position because you not living from “more grace yet”. But grace is the free gift for survival, freedom and certainty in all circumstances not the remedy for the removal of all pain, confusion and suffering.
Secondly, understanding that you are made up of body, mind and spirit has been very helpful. My Spirit can be refreshed and mature, while my body and all its emotions can still be quite immature and very reactive at the same time. The Spirit comes to dwell in us, but we need to realise that it takes time for God’s Spirit to transform our minds and bodies.
Thirdly, redefine success. Success is not the level or ability of the task that you accomplish, but the degree to which you live by the values, priorities and practices of God.
Fourthly, balance the tensions – Word/Spirit, Grace/Truth, Teaching/Practice, Giving/Receiving. Jesus is always right in the middle of these tensions.
Lastly, rest and be still for the sake of clearer perspective. When we rest and cut out time to be still, we allow ourselves to step back to gain the bigger picture. The tension of being free and burdened, clear and confused, certain but unsure is a beautiful place to be in because it is these questions, burdens and tensions that have
the ability to draw us towards Jesus and to be formed by Him.
Stay there.
God Bless
David Skevington