This morning, after a so-so night’s sleep, I woke feeling tired.
Fatigued.
Not because it was just a so-so night….
…simply speaking, my soul seemed weary.
I am news-fatigued.
Zoom-meeting-fatigued.
Covid-19-fatigued.
Riot-fatigued.
Maybe even a bit home-bound-fatigued (missing ministry to faces in real-time).
This morning is a “blog-day” and, yes, I’m a bit blog-writing-fatigued.
Yet, there’s tug on my spirit greater than the fatigue.
This is a tug to give Voice to the Word (the Logos…the Rhema…Jesus).
In Jesus’ prayer for His disciples in John 17, He asks His Father to guard those whom have been given to Him. Not just the twelve, but all the followers who would come.
You, me, the church.
“Keep them from the evil one.”
“Keep them in Truth.”
“Your Word is Truth.”
“Don’t take them from the world, but guard them, that they might be ONE (emphasis mine).”
He goes on to pray, not only “keep them,” but sanctify and consecrate these whom He says are a gift to His heart (this part of John 17 left me speechless…does it you?….Jesus-follower, we are a GIFT to JESUS from the FATHER!!! Think on it!).
In the heart of this prayer, Jesus verbalizes why we’ve been sanctified and consecrated (set apart and anointed for God’s use):
“that the world may know, Father, that You are in me, and I in you, and they are in us, SO THAT, the world may believe that you sent me….and loved them, even as you loved me…before the foundation of the world…”
Just minutes before Jesus prayed, in the midst of His “I’m-going-away-speech,” He tells them this:
More than anything, this morning I realized I am division-fatigued.
I wonder if Jesus is, too?
My face.
Your face.
White faces.
Black faces.
Brown faces.
Asian faces.
Caucasian faces.
American-Indian faces.
Adult faces.
Teen faces.
Infant and children faces.
With each heart beat until the last one, those, His gifts from the Father (every face), popped into His mind framed in blood (His).
With each breath He breathed until the final struggling breath, when He whispered these words, “It is finished,” the purpose for His existence (us) showed up in the form of faces.
He died for us all.
Can we not be an answer to His prayer?
May our bodies sprout hands, mouths, feet, and creative brains…so that we keep the main thing the main thing:
Love (like) Jesus.
Show the world Jesus.
Before it is too late…
Let us be disciples, loving others to Jesus, so that we can make disciples.
I am also hate-fatigued (I expect it out there among the world, but I am especially weary of the hate and spite I see among Jesus-followers)…
Let us do our homework. Before we sign our name to agendas, current hashtags, worldly philosophies that seem sound, ask:
“Does this agenda match Jesus prayer?”
“What’s my motivation behind supporting this agenda?”
“Do I really know what the people organizing this agenda stand for?”
I keep seeing signs that read, “Be the change!”
I don’t disagree. BUT JESUS-FOLLOWER, we can’t “be change” until we buy into living out the answer to Jesus’ prayer!
