Growing Weary

G.K. Chesterton-Weariness is the enemy of all noble things.
Paul in Galatians 6:9-Let us not become weary in doing good.

Surveying the current cultural landscape a Christian is easily discouraged. All around, where there stood truth, there now stands lies. And we like it that way. Sociologists and others will study for years the demise the American Empire and how she got where she is. How did we reach a place where sodomy is right, where state's rights are destroyed by a tyrannical federal government, where nine men on a bench decide that killing children is not murder?

There are of course numerous factors. One could point to the failure of Christians to preach the Lordship of Christ in all areas. Certainly the lack of discipline in churches is one of the reasons our country has decayed. The fact that most believers send their children to government schools would also explain why the car is in the ditch. However, as I read the above quote by Chesterton a new reason for the decay struck me. We became weary.

We became weary of raising children for the Kingdom, so we sent them somewhere elsewhere or didn't have them at all. We became weary of preaching Christ and Him crucified, so we began to preach Jesus the great therapist who will cure all your ills. We became weary of not being accepted by the scientific establishment, so we accepted evolution and higher critical theories of the Scriptures. We became weary of being called irrelevant and boring, so we made our worship look like the world. We became weary of studying the Scriptures, so we turn to psychology, sociology and anthropology to learn theology. We became weary of shepherding the flock, so now we buy them and keep them like so many customers. We became weary of being called bigots, so we tossed out the Bible's teaching on gender roles. The world wore us down.

One of the trumpet calls in Scripture is to persevere. We find it in the words of our Lord , when He tells us to put our hand to the plow and not look back. (Luke 9:62) Paul tells his converts to "continue in the grace of God." (Acts 13:43) He tells the church at Philippi to "stand fast in the Lord." (Philippians 4:1) The writer to the Hebrews fills his book with encouragement to persevere. (Hebrews 2:1, 3:14, 4:14, 6:11-18, 10:23 and 12:1-13)

There are many virtues in the Christian life, but they all wither and die without perseverance. We must learn to not grow weary, but to continue in the faith, no matter what the personal toll is to us. And just as important we must train our children to do the same. For surely they will reap the bitter harvest of past Christians having given up. If we learn this lesson and keep heart, then there will be laid up for us a crown of righteousness, which this world knows nothing of.