Something that troubles me is watching believers change as time goes by, but not always for the better. Let me explain what I mean. I’m not talking about seniors when I say long-term Christians. I mean people who have been in the faith for a long time. So today I write to you, the seasoned Christians. The mature ones, the experienced ones. How is your life progressing with God today?
I’ve seen mature Christians become sour as they get older — like a lemon that is shriveled up and bitter. They have become grouchy and irritable with others. Other believers don’t like hanging around with them or working with them. Rather than encouraging those who are young in the faith, they become critical. Rather than cheerleading from the sidelines, they complain and fuss in frustration with their current situation or about what they don’t like about the church or the fact they don’t like what is happening.
There could be some very real reasons for this change. Unmet expectations toward God. Disappointment in ministry or personal life. Difficulties and crises in family or physical health. Work problems. Ministry failure or frustration. Whatever the problems of being a long-term Christian, the faith of some just doesn’t seem to be able to lift them above their life circumstances.
How about if you’ve been a very competent leader but no one seems to need your leadership now? What happens if you have been the center of ministry activity but now you seem to be sidelined? What internal choices will you make if you feel unwanted or unneeded?
I believe the most important thing to hold on to as we walk with God is a passion and a hunger to grow. If there is not a focused hunger for God in your life, you will come to a point where you stop growing and you start shrinking. I don’t mean a hunger for power or ministry or positions; I mean a focused hunger for God – to know Jesus better.
A long-term commitment to Jesus can be beautiful if we allow the sweetness of His presence to shine through us.
Are we so driven to ministry work that we get depressed when we can no longer keep up the pace? Activity is not necessarily productive in the kingdom. Mary who sat at Jesus’s feet chose “the better part.” The moment we stop sitting at His feet, we become merely “busy.” Stillness, the gift of walking with God for a long time, can bring a sense of God’s presence that frantic activity never can.
Here are some things to consider;
- If I worked for God as His servant and God changed my service, I should not be unhappy. I am only a servant — or was I?
- If I did everything for the glory of God and suddenly all the doors to ministry close, I should be content. Am I?
- If I am a leader, has God truly spoken to me to initiate something or am I just restless? There is a difference. Some spiritualize this and say, “God is stirring me up.” But is it God or our own thoughts and feelings?
We are only required to be faithful, obedient, and willing. We are not required to DO anything unless God gives us the opportunity, opens a door, or clearly speaks to us.
The bottom line: we are all working for Jesus’s glory and honor, nothing more and nothing less. If that is the basis of my life, then I will live in joy whether I’m a baby Christian or a long-term Christian, young or old, fit or feeble, busy or at rest, simply for the privilege of knowing Him. The “burnout” standard of the past has been a badge of honor — “I’d rather burn out for God” — but is it? Why can we not have a steady flame that carries us into maturity with grace and constancy?
When I was quite young, my father took me to visit a retired minister who had been our pastor. I don’t remember much about the visit except the impression he made on me. There was a sweetness in his life — the presence of Jesus. That’s what I left with that day. I would like to be like that.
Our hearts should always embrace the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
That should make our Christian life a blessing instead of a burden! Just knowing Jesus and His love will make us a blessing all our days. That requires a hunger for the Lord and a commitment to His purpose and His will in every single precious moment. If we walk in ministry, we are His. If we sit at rest and meditate upon Him, we are His. A long-term commitment to Jesus can be beautiful if we allow the sweetness of His presence to shine through us.
