Jump Start # 1756

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 “We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.”

Here we are in the New Year already. Three days into the year and many are making goals, plans and resolutions. Some of these will be personal. Some will be congregational. You may have listened to sermons on Sunday, telling you that you need to do more. Pray more. Study more. Attend more. We preachers tend to be pushy and often it seems we are never satisfied. Whatever you are doing, you ought to be doing more. That’s the way many of us preachers see things. Push. Push. Push. Spiritual spankings and guilt seem to be a big part of Sunday worship. It happens so often, that some not only expect it, but they have gotten rather used to it. Some would even say, “that’s what the preacher is supposed to do.”

I think I have been right there myself. Pounding the poor brethren into feeling miserable because they aren’t doing enough. More. More. More. It’s like the college football coach who yells at his players or the drill sergeant who is working the new recruits in basic training.

From all of this comes a couple of thoughts:

First, it’s easy to assume that God feels the same way about me as the preacher does. Some see God as one who is never pleased. There is never enough with God. You can’t pray enough. You can’t read the Bible enough. He is never happy. He is never pleased with you. Well, that thinking isn’t right. God was certainly happy with the five and two talent men. He said, “Well done.” You can nearly see the Master high fiving his servants. The father was certainly pleased when the prodigal came home. He didn’t make him spill his guts about all the wrongs that he had done. He didn’t threaten him nor take away privileges. He called for a celebration.

Maybe the preacher isn’t happy with me. That doesn’t mean that God feels that way. God can be pleased.

Second, instead of always feeling guilty because you are not doing enough, which eventually makes you feel miserable, God wants you to enjoy your walk with Him. Rejoice in the Lord is what Paul wrote. Our verse today, taken from Thessalonians, identifies the work of faith, the labor of love and the steadfastness of hope in Christ. Paul was thankful for them. Remember, this is the Thessalonians, who in Acts we learn were not as noble minded as the Bereans. It’s easy to think that this group wasn’t doing things right. But they were.

It is good to enjoy your relationship with the Lord. Worship ought to be pleasant. “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord,’” is what the Psalmist wrote. I was glad. It’s a good thing. We are a blessed people. We are forgiven. We are God’s children. We carry the work of the kingdom. There is much to rejoice and be glad about.

Look where you are today. Look how far you have come. Look where you were just five years ago. You have grown in the Lord. You know so much today. You have confidence and assurance. Look what you are doing now compared to just a few years ago. Some of you are serving as shepherds in God’s kingdom. That’s amazing. Some are teaching classes. That would have never been done by you a few years ago. Some of you are busy inviting friends to services. Some of you are even preaching. Amazing!

Sure it’s easy to say, ‘well, there’s more that we could be doing.’ That’s probably true. But don’t throw water on what you have accomplished in the Lord. With God’s help and the help of God’s people you have done well.

Thinking this way, helps us to be thankful. It makes us realize how much God has helped us and opened doors for us. It allows us to remember how many people have been there to encourage us and give us a chance.

The ultimate victory for the Christian is Heaven. But what we may fail to see is that all along that journey, there have been little victories. The faith of your children. That’s a victory. You poured hours into them. Having people turn to you for answers, that’s a victory. They see knowledge in you. They trust your answers. They know you will say what is helpful. Helping others, those are small victories.

Every major war that was won, was the result of many little victories. A battle won here. A skirmish won there. The same is true in our spiritual life. We want to win the war. We focus upon that war. But that war is made up of tiny battles. Controlling your temper, when you felt like saying something. Resisting the devil, when he knocked on the door of your heart with temptation. Saying ‘no’ to self as you served someone else. They needed to talk to you. They needed you to help them. You came. You listened. You won a small battle.   Small battles against lust. Small skirmishes with toxic people. We look back and we realize that there have been many battles. The war is still going on, but look at all the battles already fought. Look at all the battles that the Lord has helped you with.

I feel that too many Christians feel that they are not good enough nor doing enough to please the Lord. We beat ourselves up. We walk through life with this enormous burden upon us. There is so much to do. There is so much that I need to change. These weights crush us. It’s no wonder we have trouble smiling. We’ve stacked on so much guilt and baggage that we are smothered.

Well done, good and faithful servant. Those were the words of Jesus. He never said, “You got five more talents. I wish you’d gotten six.” He didn’t say that. We think that way. We feel that way. We need to listen to the “well done.” We need to see the smile upon Jesus’ face. We need to get over the idea that we can impress God. You can’t. We need to get over the idea that if we only do more, then He’ll love us. He already loves you. He can’t love you any more than what He already does. We do what He says, not to win His love. He loves us. We do these things because He loves us.

Look at what you have done! Be prayerful. You couldn’t have done it without the Lord! Don’t take your foot off the accelerator. Don’t put on the cruise control. Keep going. Keep going strong. Keep being intense. But look out the window once in a while. Look how far you’ve come.

God’s been good to you.

Heaven is getting closer and closer all the time.

Roger