Don't Grow Weary

 And let us not grow weary of doing good,
for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9 (ESV)

Treasured Friend,

Do you ever feel a little weird? As a Christ-follower, I mean. As someone who is doing her best to follow in Christ’s footsteps, to live daily in a way that would honor Him. As someone who chooses to stay far away from the DMZ that some others seem to straddle, so near the borders to the sin territory that could so easily enslave and capture.

I see others doing well with the straddling—moving freely between the two territories—as if carrying passport papers from both kingdoms. Living the way of the world and seeing great gain. They, surrounded by a vast assortment of colorful friends, choose together with them to take liberty to the extreme. I’d be petrified to walk their path. But I must confess, when I see them do it, I feel like a bit of a rumpled, bumbling dope walking my straight and narrow.

I’m not jealous or anxious to live vicariously through them. That’s not it. But I sometimes feel like Elijah after his exhausting journey into the wilderness – explaining to God that he’s the last one left who hasn’t bowed to the way of the culture. I know I’m not the last one, any more than Elijah was (1 Kings 19). But often when I see them glance back at me, I detect in their eyes a certainty that my weirdness quotient just may be off the charts. My wardrobe selections. My lifestyle decisions. My language. My entertainment choices. My music. My books. My priorities just don’t compute – don’t make one lick of sense to so many of my colleagues, acquaintances, even family and friends.

Feeling enmeshed in that blue funk this afternoon, I clicked through my YouTube favorites and listened (over and over and over) to a song that absolutely revolutionized my perspective. It was Charles Billingsley’s video of “Light of that City,” where he (along with an energetic choir and orchestra) paints a picture of the eternal joy set before us. “On that day, we will sing, ‘Holy, Holy!’/On that day, we’ll bow down in the light.” It’s magnificent. It’s life-altering. It’s all-encompassing. The expectation that one day, we’ll be rewarded for our faithfulness by turning our eyes upward and seeing our Lord Jesus Christ in all His resplendent glory.

Reflecting on that expectation, my mind locked in on a Scripture I had memorized in Pioneer Girls as a grade-schooler. In this context it made more sense to me than it ever had before:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption,
but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
 And let us not grow weary of doing good,
for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
 Galatians 6:7-9 (ESV emphasis added)

Here’s the YouTube link to Charles Billingsley’s rendition of the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmArFPfyagc&feature=plcp .

It helped me regain my focus and pointed me toward this passage in Galatians, where I regained my passion for just how worthy the goal of my life is: to glorify Christ and enjoy Him forever. Most of all, for me today, it put the weirdness quotient back in its rightful perspective. I never want to be a stumbling block that gets in the way of others coming to Christ – but that said, I don’t live by the same set of rules as the world. It’s no wonder they think I’m wacky. In fact, I suppose it’s a backhanded compliment, of sorts.

My prayer for you today, treasured friend, is that whatever is challenging your faith and your resolve, you’ll find in one look into the eyes of the Light of that City (Rev. 21:23), a renewed purpose and a revitalized passion to hold firm and steady in your attempts at faithfully living in the way that honors Him.

Blessings and prayers,

Julie

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