It's Monday morning here at the church. It's quiet, the heat is softly purring, and I've got my buddy J.S. Bach orchestrating a beautiful morning. Boy, I could just go back to sleep! For many of us I dare say this morning, getting out of bed just didn't seem appealing. It was a wonderful Christmas season for the Edwards. As Aiden gets older he is more and more able to enjoy presents and Christmas...when I left the house this morning he was going to town on new toys! We were also able to share Christmas with a new church family, having a wonderful, crowded Christmas Eve service last Tuesday. December as a whole was an exciting month of decorating, baking, parties, advent, and the like. What a joyous holiday it was, both exciting as well as spiritually rejuvenating.
At the same time, it can all be exhausting. Being on the constant go, worrying about this or that, celebrating with family but at the same time finding oneself on people overload. At the church, not only did we have Christmas festivities, but we also had all of our year-end planning to complete, a budget, new goals, etc. I caught myself saying to Nancy this morning, "I'm happy December is near over." I could use a three or four day nap...I think we could all use a little respite.
For these reasons January can be quite a perplexing, paradoxical month. It is a time well suited for starting new plans, looking forward, setting our eyes on the horizon. At the same time, it is a month when we naturally just want to take a deep breath and relax. In about two weeks some of those credit card bills are going to start rolling in and after that in February there is really little to excite us. We're all just waiting for Spring and warm weather. It's easy to just coast through these next couple of weeks, to take a break, if you will.
Paul warns us against such weariness, however, saying that even when we are most tired, that we are to demonstrate our maturity by pressing on. He writes in Philippians 3:12-16, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained."
I love this verb, "pressing on." It carries with it the connotation of being tired, of wanting to quit or take a break, but recognizing the importance of keeping moving. I love hiking, but one of the cardinal rules of serious mountain hiking is to never sit down in the middle of a hike. It is near impossible to get going again once you've sat down; and even then once you do get hiking once more, you are lethargic and near worth-less. As Paul exhorts us, we mustn't sit down in this post-Christmas season, but continue pressing on.
The good news is that we are not expected to press on in our power or energy. Perhaps this is why we often fail to strain toward the goal, because we are doing so on our own strength. Soon after these words in Philippians 3, Paul writes in Philippians 4:1, "Stand firm thus in the Lord." Simply put, don't do this in your own power. Don't make your own goals or aspirations. But center yourself in Christ Jesus and allow Him to be that focus and direction for the new year. Let us rest, therefore, but rest in Christ Jesus, recognizing that His rest is an active one and a pressing one.
No comments:
Post a Comment