To be honest, I didn’t really want to write this morning. I felt weary and a little discouraged. The motivation was just not there and I was tempted to take the easy way out—dig into my archives and pull out a gem from the past. It would be easy and you readers would likely never know.
That is what weariness and discouragement can do to us. We start to cut corners or give up altogether when the motivation and enthusiasm are lacking. It is easy to do and easy to rationalize. Probably one of the most overused terms in recent times is “burnout.” People tend to apply it quite liberally as an excuse for not following through on responsibilities or just not having much enthusiasm. While there are legitimate cases of burnout, where rest and pulling back from responsibilities are necessary, much of what people describe as burnout is just the normal grind of life in a fallen world.
Life is hard and, sometimes, we just need to accept this fact and push on through it. I didn’t want to write today, but that is what I have committed to do and so I am pushing through my own internal resistance to do it. And what helped to motivate me was this passage.
Life indeed was hard for the early followers of Jesus. They were persecuted and often killed as a result of their faith. The Hebrew writer sought to encourage them not to give up or give in and renounce their faith. He reminded them of the believers before them who had endured much the same, and then he pointed them to Jesus. He told them to fix their eyes on Him in the midst of all their struggles. He had endured much, but was victorious in the end.
Jesus never gave up, never got burned out. He can be our source of strength and encouragement to continue to push through when we grow weary. Today, if you, like me, are feeling weary and discouraged, don’t give in to the temptation of cutting corners or giving up. Fix your eyes on Jesus and push on through.
© Jim Musser 2016
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