When You’re Weary

“We are had pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed”  (2 Corinthians 4:7-9)

 I am tired.  Weary-to-my-bones kind of tired.  Needing-more-than-a-day-off kind of tired. The tired that drains you physically, emotionally and spiritually.  It’s really easy to sink into fatigue and cry “Woe is me!” and post my feelings all over social media.  But how does that serve the cause of Christ? 

In our key verse, Paul, who had every right to whine, choose instead to look at his life from a different perspective.  He acknowledged that his circumstances were hard – he was being pressed from many different directions by people with very different agendas.  He was perplexed; he couldn’t understand why his own people were rejecting the Messiah they had so long sought.  He was persecuted – his life was often in danger, his ministry was detested by the Jewish leaders and even by certain factions of the church.  He was struck down – beaten and stoned more than once for his dogged devotion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Despite all that, he refused to give in to misery.  He knew that no human could crush him because he belonged to the Lord.  He chose not to give in to despair.  He reminded himself that his Lord and Savior would never abandon him, and had even come to stand beside him in prison (Acts 23:11).  He knew that the Lord he served with all his heart would not allow him to be destroyed.

Beloved – this is YOUR testimony too if you are in Christ.  You are not a victim—you are a victor!  Yes, life gets very hard sometimes, but you and I need not give in to despair because our Lord will not let us be crushed or destroyed. He has promised to never abandon His own, not even in our darkest, hardest moments.  Like Paul, we must learn to hold fast to Jesus and trust Him despite our circumstances or feelings. 

I am tired, but the Lord promises to give me strength.  I am overwhelmed, but He will carry my burdens for me.  I am weary, but He will sustain me.  I can focus on my fatigue, or on my faithful Father.  The choice is mine.  The choice is yours too.  Where will your thoughts take you today?

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them” Genesis 1:27.

I have a beautiful old mirror that I rescued it from an abandoned church that had become a “relief station” for transients (yes, I got permission to take it).  The room was filthy and the mirror reflected (pun intended) the condition of the room.  It smelled so bad I took it home in a doubled plastic bag and set it on the porch to let it air out a little.  After a couple of weeks I examined it more closely.  It was covered in grime and tar from cigarette smoke.  The felt backing had rotted away and there were scratches to the silver on the back, but the Art-Deco design on the front was still intact, so I cleaned it up the best I could and hung it in my study.  It wasn’t useful at all as a mirror, but it was a pretty piece that added a touch of character to my room.

A friend came by one day and saw the mirror, and after I told her to story, she recommended someone she said could possibly restore it.  I took the mirror to him and left it in his care.  A few weeks later, he called to say my mirror was ready, and he thought I would be pleased with the results.  He underestimated my reaction.  My mirror was beautiful!  He had cleaned it better than I ever could, restored the silver and recovered the back with new felt.  He had refreshed the paint in the design and polished the whole thing up until it more than shined – it glowed!  Most of all, it was restored to its original purpose, an instrument of reflection.  I re-hung it by the doorway and checked my hair and makeup everyday as I left for work.  It was truly a mirror now, not just an interesting decoration.

You and I were created to reflect the Imago Dei – the image of God.  In His original design, God could look at His human creation and see Himself in us.  But just as that mirror had been covered over with filth and no longer served its purpose, sin has covered over the beautiful image of God in mankind and we no longer act as the reflection of our Creator.  We are stained with the filth of the world in which we live.  We are useless as the image bearers of God, and we know we are not living up to our divinely ordained purpose, so we try to clean ourselves up – just as I tried to clean up that mirror.  I did my best, but my efforts fell far short of bringing my mirror back to its original condition.  It took a professional restorer to finish the task.

It takes Someone far more capable than you and me to restore us to our original purpose.  It takes a Savior.  It takes a great sacrifice – a divine sacrifice – to clean off all the world’s filth.  It takes a great power – Holy Spirit power – to bring the Imago Dei back to its original condition.  Beloved, you and I were not meant to reflect the world around us, we were fashioned to reflect the God of the Universe, our Creator.  Will you trust yourself to God and allow Him to restore you to the beautiful purpose for which you were created?

Holy Father, I could have left that mirror in that filthy place, but I saw the beauty under the grime.  You see the hint of Your own image in us, and You have given everything to rescue and restore us to our original condition.  Thank you Lord.  I surrender my life to You – cleanse me and make me once again a reflection of You.  Amen.