If you have any propensity for music, you know what it is like to have a song stick in your mind. Sometimes it is a melody line that you just can’t seem to shake. Or it may be a lyric that repeats itself again and again in your head. But when a songwriter combines a captivating melody with inspiring lyrics, you are doomed. That has been my plight over the past couple months as a song titled “Come to Me”, written by Scott Baker and distributed by EarReverent Music, has been used in worship at our church. The lyrics come from Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28-30. Here is how Scott has chosen to present that message musically:
Behold my child
my chosen beloved
the pleasure of my soul
I will put my Spirit upon Him
to bring justice and hope to the world
Come to me (all who are heavy-laden)
Come to me (weary of being your best)
Come and take this easy burden
and I will give you rest
This question keeps running through my mind: What exactly is the easy burden? Do you find being yoked to Jesus an experience you would characterize as “easy” or “restful”? Or would you at times describe your Christian life as a “burden” which causes you to feel “heavy-laden”? Evidently Jesus found Himself surrounded by people who were of the “heavy-laden” camp because He addressed them specifically in this passage (“Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden…”). And if I am brutally honest, I find a lot in the Christian life that makes me weary and heavy-laden myself. Obviously Jesus did not intend the life of a disciple to be this way. His words make that clear. So what are we doing wrong?
Here are a couple possibilities I have come up with. First, the burden isn’t easy because we are trying to be good. Scott Baker calls it “weary of being your best.” When we find ourselves trying to measure up to a self-imposed performance standard, there is no possible outcome but weariness. The answer to this laborious approach to the Christian life is found, I believe, in the opening lyrics to the song. We are the chosen of God, beloved by Him, and endowed with His Spirit. God loves us just as we are, and could never love us more no matter how “good” we are able to be. So our task is to live in that Spirit and relax in the knowledge that we are the beloved of our Creator, and we are totally accepted by Him because we have the righteousness of Christ Himself.
A second mistake we make that can bring weariness to our souls is to accept someone else’s idea of what our lives ought to look like, and hammer ourselves because we don’t measure up. The whole issue of personal evangelism is a good example. You have heard this kind of directed application, or read it, I am sure. “You should be sharing your faith with everyone you meet.” Or this one: “Not everyone has the gift of evangelism, but everyone is called to evangelize; so get out lead someone to Christ.” For some, this is an invigorating message, but for others such a call can bring about feelings of failure and a guilt-ridden existence. I don’t want to minimize the scriptural admonition to be ready to defend your faith and explain the hope that it within you (1 Peter 3:15), but our primary calling is to live the life of Jesus before people. It is His Spirit who will do the wooing and softening of hearts, and He alone is tasked with creating the divine appointments that result in true disciplemaking.
These are two of the ways I have become a weary disciple in the past. How about you? Are there things about the faith that seem burdensome to you? Share your experiences in a comment on this blog. Maybe Jesus can help us learn from each other and we can all find the “rest for our souls” that He intended.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Will of God
During my 25 years of pastoral experience, I counseled many people on the topic of how to know God’s will. In State College a large part of our congregation was undergraduate and graduate students at Penn State. Often as graduation neared, a student would come to me asking, “How can I know what God wants me to do next?” Since I had pawned my crystal ball to buy books at seminary, and God seems to enjoy keeping me in the dark as much as the next person, my answer was always the same: pray, look for open doors, and then move through them. God will stop and redirect you if He has something else in mind.
When arrived in Lynchburg in early April, it was with a plan. We would get settled, and I would get a part-time job, entry-level, anywhere that I could be with non-churched people and begin to develop relationships. I spent time in April applying for jobs at McDonalds, Lowes, Arbys, Home Depot, Kroger, Wal-Mart—all the stores we frequented. My plan was simple. When I got an offer, that would be God’s leading and I would take it.
A little over two weeks ago I received a call from Wal-Mart. They wanted me to come in for an interview. Over the next two day, I sat for three separate interviews and found out that the job was in the dairy department of a very busy store on “the strip” in Lynchburg. I had no expectations other than to work for 15-20 hours each week, so I agreed to attend a one-day orientation. Seven other new hires filled out tons of paperwork with me that day and began an extensive series of video training sessions to prepare us for work. That was on a Wednesday. I was on the job in the dairy department on Thursday, and by the following Tuesday had put in forty hours in 6 days.
A couple observations about working at Wal-Mart. First, if you are under the impression that these are cushy jobs, or that most Wal-Mart employees stand around and welcome people, think again. I haven’t worked that hard for years. The job entailed unloading pallets of milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, and a hundred other products from trucks, shelving them in a 30 degree dairy cooler, and then rolling them out to the floor for stocking. The store was so busy that you could stock the egg area, turn around to straighten up the cheese, and return to find that the cooler of eggs showed no signs of your previous work. And there was endless cleaning to do. Eggs break, yogurt containers split, milk jugs leak—you quickly find how to use the business end of a mop. On top of that, the video training is relentless. You learn how to use a box cutting knife, how to deal with all kinds of spills, how to handle store emergencies, operate a cardboard compactor and various kinds of jacks, avoid committing sexual harassment, and how to follow company policies on everything from time cards to union contacts.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience…and I quit after one week. Why? That brings me back to the topic of this post. I didn’t feel that is where God wanted me. My reasoning for taking the job seemed sound: that was the only offer I had had and therefore God must be in it. And maybe He was. I’m still not sure about all that. But one thing became clear after a week of work: I need to find a job that uses more of my education, experience and gifts. So I reluctantly left Wal-Mart and am now again in the job market.
I learned a lot during the time I spent at Wal-Mart. It was an experience that will shape my shopping forever. I have a new appreciation for what it takes to keep a store looking clean, neat and ready for the shopper. I am more careful now to put a yogurt container back where it belongs when I have looked at it and decided on another. Wal-Mart employees are taught to look the customer in the eye and say hello. I do that with employees now. And I am even more convinced than before that if you are uncertain of God’s direction, you should keep moving. He will use every experience you have to make you into a sensitive and obedient servant. And when the time is right, His perfect plan will become a reality in your life.
When arrived in Lynchburg in early April, it was with a plan. We would get settled, and I would get a part-time job, entry-level, anywhere that I could be with non-churched people and begin to develop relationships. I spent time in April applying for jobs at McDonalds, Lowes, Arbys, Home Depot, Kroger, Wal-Mart—all the stores we frequented. My plan was simple. When I got an offer, that would be God’s leading and I would take it.
A little over two weeks ago I received a call from Wal-Mart. They wanted me to come in for an interview. Over the next two day, I sat for three separate interviews and found out that the job was in the dairy department of a very busy store on “the strip” in Lynchburg. I had no expectations other than to work for 15-20 hours each week, so I agreed to attend a one-day orientation. Seven other new hires filled out tons of paperwork with me that day and began an extensive series of video training sessions to prepare us for work. That was on a Wednesday. I was on the job in the dairy department on Thursday, and by the following Tuesday had put in forty hours in 6 days.
A couple observations about working at Wal-Mart. First, if you are under the impression that these are cushy jobs, or that most Wal-Mart employees stand around and welcome people, think again. I haven’t worked that hard for years. The job entailed unloading pallets of milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, and a hundred other products from trucks, shelving them in a 30 degree dairy cooler, and then rolling them out to the floor for stocking. The store was so busy that you could stock the egg area, turn around to straighten up the cheese, and return to find that the cooler of eggs showed no signs of your previous work. And there was endless cleaning to do. Eggs break, yogurt containers split, milk jugs leak—you quickly find how to use the business end of a mop. On top of that, the video training is relentless. You learn how to use a box cutting knife, how to deal with all kinds of spills, how to handle store emergencies, operate a cardboard compactor and various kinds of jacks, avoid committing sexual harassment, and how to follow company policies on everything from time cards to union contacts.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience…and I quit after one week. Why? That brings me back to the topic of this post. I didn’t feel that is where God wanted me. My reasoning for taking the job seemed sound: that was the only offer I had had and therefore God must be in it. And maybe He was. I’m still not sure about all that. But one thing became clear after a week of work: I need to find a job that uses more of my education, experience and gifts. So I reluctantly left Wal-Mart and am now again in the job market.
I learned a lot during the time I spent at Wal-Mart. It was an experience that will shape my shopping forever. I have a new appreciation for what it takes to keep a store looking clean, neat and ready for the shopper. I am more careful now to put a yogurt container back where it belongs when I have looked at it and decided on another. Wal-Mart employees are taught to look the customer in the eye and say hello. I do that with employees now. And I am even more convinced than before that if you are uncertain of God’s direction, you should keep moving. He will use every experience you have to make you into a sensitive and obedient servant. And when the time is right, His perfect plan will become a reality in your life.
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