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"What A Weariness!"
“I don’t want to.” “I’d really rather not do this.” No, we haven’t heard
too often those words literally expressed (in regards to some aspect of
service to Christ), but we have often seen them portrayed on the
faces and in the actions of children of God. The dropping of shoulders
-- the down-turned lips -- the spirit that looks for any excuse to
dismiss it from service. All too often we have seen these. Perhaps you
and I have even portrayed them at some time ourselves.
Is the Lord pleased with such an attitude? Surely He is not. On
one occasion long ago, He expressed His wish for someone to “shut the
doors” to the temple so that His people “would not kindle fire” on His
altar “in vain.” They were offering defiled sacrifices on His altar, yes
-- But even beyond this they were expressing these words concerning
their worship: “Oh, what a weariness!” (Malachi 1:7-14).
Sadly, the state of affairs among God’s people in some areas is
reminiscent of that in Malachi’s day, with some treating service to God
as if it were some chore of drudgery. They need to know that God has not
changed (Malachi 3:6) and that He consequently feels the same
displeasure with such a mind-set.
Opportunities to visit the sick in a hospital or nursing home… to
open one’s house to a brother… to teach a Bible class of young ones… to
invite some to a gospel meeting… to attend the worship assemblies of the
saints -- This writer has witnessed opportunities for service such as
these (and others) being entered into with the disposition of “I’d
really rather not do this.” Often this attitude has even influenced its
holder to persuade himself that he’d actually be better off “not to do
this,” reasoning in a twisted sort of way that, “After all, the Lord
only wants service that is done cheerfully.”
Well, it is true that the Lord “loves a cheerful giver” (2
Corinthians 9:7), and there is no doubting His displeasure with the
attitude that says, “Oh, what a weariness!” But the answer lies neither
in begrudging service nor in no service whatsoever. We remind everyone
of the outcome of the one-talent man who refused to use his ability with
the opportunity afforded him: “And cast the unprofitable servant into
the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”
(Matthew 25:30). The Scriptures clearly declare God’s condemnation on
the non-doer as well as the grudging doer.
What is needed? An “attitude adjustment” (as one fellow put it)
-- Yes, but one that will not occur until something is recognized. What
is needed is more love for the Lord! The Bible says, “We love Him
because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). When the child of God reminds
himself of the “goodness of God” as manifested in the giving of “His
only begotten Son,” this recognition will prompt him to gladly give his
life (and everything that goes with it) to the Lord. The problem is a
heart-problem, an attitude that is not dwelling on the love of God.
We are not declaring that all service to the Lord will (in and of
itself) be pleasurable. Surely there are things that are difficult. For
that matter, could there have been anything pleasurable (in and of
itself) that our Lord saw in dying a cruel death on a cross? Yet He
gladly and willingly did so. What were His words? “Not My will, but
Thine be done.” The Lord looked beyond the cross to the joy it would
bring His Father and Himself, looking to the results His death would
bring to all those who availed themselves of His cleansing blood. “…For
the joy that was set before Him,” Jesus “endured the cross” (Hebrews
12:2).
Let’s look to Jesus for our example of selflessness, taking joy
in whatever service we can render to God and His saints. To the one who
truly knows what God has done for Him, all service will he gladly offer.
Over and above whatever his own will might be, the true Christian wants
to do the Lord’s will. He takes pleasure in pleasing the Father
in heaven.
--Mike Noble
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