In Response to a Comment / ARE YOU WEARIED part II

I just got a certain comment from a “friend blogger” (www.randomnesssignedgibbons.blogspot) and even though this friend sort of gently warned me about things I thought, I went to bed and praised God for shaping my thoughts and views through people. In my last post I wrote about a verse I felt very different and interesting, “Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.” (Isaiah 43:22 NIV) and I wanted to understand what God meant by “wearied yourselves for me”. Anyways, just read the last entry to know more about my thoughts. I was totally aware that my thinking could raise some “Wait a minute Gabe…” kind of response from people. Here’s a comment I got (I didn’t ask the writer permission to publish it but… I guess, it’s already published in my comments so… what’s the big difference hey?!)

I like what you've written, it's very challenging. But I'd like to raise a "warning flag." When I read what you wrote about being tired from waking too early or praying during the night, I wondered, "Is this safe?" Yes, it's right and good that you are obeying God's call to holiness by these actions. But I feel it can be dangerous to ignore the signs of weariness your body gives you. Pushing past these signs as if they are only obstacles to your walk with God can lead to health problems, if you don't take care. So many pastors and Christian leaders burn out, maybe because they keep going, pushing themselves to the limit in seeking after God, but not taking time to check if their bodies are holding up under the strain. It seems to make sense that we need to take care of our bodies (by sleeping enough, eating enough, and relaxing enough) to be able to serve God and pursue him in the long run.

I totally agree with all of what’s written up here. I did not really talk about this issue of being wise and careful that our devotion should not lead us to the point where it makes us unable to continue to obey Christ, or isn’t helpful in our walk with Him (If I get up early to read and pray but I feel grumpy for the rest of the day… well that’s not good and some things need to be readjusted). It’s true that our bodies need rest and food, and we cannot alienate these needs from us totally “because we want to follow Christ”. Christians were always called to live lives that are pure so to set an example for unbelievers (Col 4:5; Titus 3:14; I Peter 2:12) and anyways when we read the New Testament, it’s obvious that God wants us to live healthy lives to the best of our means.
But at the same time, we read about a Paul talking about learning to be content being fed or hungry, having plenty or being in want (Phil. 4:12), we read that we must flee the desires of youth (II Tim. 2:22 – could laziness be included in here?), about devoting ourselves to doing what is good (Titus 3:8), we read about people struggling and being sick but still working for the cause of Christ (Phil. 2:25-30) and above all, the life of Jesus Himself, many times we read that Jesus would spend the night praying, getting up when it was still dark to pray, be alone with God, he was all day long busy with people around Him, healing and helping and speaking and preaching and… why is He sleeping while the disciplines are freaking out because of the storm that is overtaking their boat? Is it because He was physically drained? Maybe.
Anyways, what I mean to say here is simply that I think that we must be careful about the way we live our lives. I do not want to put any burden on anybody’s back, or say that all should do the things that Gabe feels called to do. But I believe that very often we love comfort and health more than doing the things of our Savior. We obey God as long as we feel good and keep our bodies healthy. I don’t know for you, but I have seen many Christian parents being reluctant to send their child on a mission trip because of the lack of comfort, because things could go wrong, because it’s humiliating to do door-to-door evangelism and so on. I am really not pointing at anybody, seriously. And then I hear of missionaries, who were beaten and persecuted and stoned in some area and now have a son reaching out to the same area, and they say that if their son must be persecuted or even be killed, they’d be the first to thank God for the privilege to partake in the cause of Christ. I hear of people giving up their jobs to go live in the slums to reach the people there, they eat their food, they live like them, they’re probably dying along with them, but they tell the people about Jesus, and souls are redeemed. I’m not saying that we are all called to deny all we have, even our health in order to reach the lost or live a godly life. Having less stuff and no money does not make us more spiritual people, otherwise, Africans and Indians and slum people and street kids are more spiritual than us.
But what I am saying is that I desire to be ready to put aside some of my usual comforts and things I’m used to do my way and a littlebit of my sleep and a meal here and there not to do godly things, but because I yearn to know God, because I seek His face in prayer, because I love Him and I want to be with Him and learn from Him.
I must learn that if I’m tired or hungry for doing things for God, out of love for Him, it’s okay. How am I going to show any real devotion to my God if I can’t spend a meal praying for the lost world instead of eating? I don’t know, but it shows a great deal of devotion. I’m not saying that we should do these things because we feel we have to. We should obey God as He reveals Himself to us, as He gives us ideas and compels us by His Word. “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.” (Gal. 6:4-5).
I don’t know if anybody understand what I’m trying to write here. Basically, I want to say that because of the overflow of our love for Christ, we’ll be longing to know Him more and we’ll use all the means we have to serve and know and learn and love Him. I feel like we forget a world out there that is suffering for Christ, and oh I am not worthy to even pray for such saints who give all to Christ, they deny comforts and better health and jobs and status to remain faithful to Jesus Christ. Do not think that I’m mixed up with two context (persecution and peace)… I have a question for you that I need to ask myself as well:
Knowing that some people have to go through sufferings to remain faithful to Christ because their country rejects Jesus’ teachings, do I really remain faithful to Christ by being a tiny bit different from the world because I go to church and am a generally good person who lives in a country or religious freedom?

It took me forever to write and rewrite this question… Please answer me, leave a comment, send an email gabeleroux@yahoo.ca … May I pray for you? May I answer any questions? Send me an email. I hope you are challenged and you won’t do anything more for Jesus out of duty (although…) but out of a genuine and true love for Him. Let us not be legalistic. ( I’m sure I’d do one of the best Pharisee in Jesus’ time if I’d actually live in His time and if I’d be a man!)