Tired?

It occurs to me that Paul may have been writing to himself as much as to the Galatians when he wrote:
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

When we get tired of putting up with the stuff people throw at us; when we are worn down by the constant accusations thrown at us by the enemy; when we are just plain exhausted by lack of sleep;  These are the times to make a decision to “not become weary in doing good”.

But, this is not the whole story.
We must become equally willing to hear Father say “Do nothing.  Go and rest.” as we are willing to hear him say “Go feed the poor” or “Go teach in Africa”  or  “Read your Bible” or Pray.”

It is time for the people of God to learn we must repent from the dead works we have decided to do and limit ourselves to doing what Father requests.  We must repent from striving to take care of every person and every need.  No leader suffers burn-out from doing the works of God.  He gets burned by doing the dead works of his own choosing.

The tragic result lies not in our weariness.  It lies in the truth that when we do not limit ourselves to doing what Father says, we fill our time with fruitless stuff.  Those dead works gradually consume more and more of us.  Before very long we simply do not have enough left in ourselves to do the works of God.  We have spent ourselves on our own dead works.

As I have often quipped, a very important part of my ministry is sitting in my recliner reading a novel.  When Father has not given me tasks to do or words to say, I need to sit down and shut up.

Please, enter into the Father’s rest.  There you will watch real works of God.