To Live is Christ — waiting before flying

As I get older, my drive has not decreased, but my energy levels often take a dip. The projects pile up because I am tired and want to just sit rather than do anything. Today’s devotional verses include this fact of life.

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:22–25)

Sometimes it helps me to grasp the gist of a passage by writing it in my own words. While this may not be a proper exegesis, this is what it says to me this morning. “Now that you are a Christian and know the cleansing power of loving others, keep it up. You have the life of Christ that comes through the Word of God. Remember that your own life will wither and fade, but the Word of God lives forever, and it is this Word that was preached to you and has changed your life.”

I feel a mild rebuke in these words. While being tired and needing sleep is often legitimate, I could use fatigue as an excuse for disobeying God. The actions needed to love others sometimes appear to be much for me and I could opt out.

Yet as I read what Peter says, the hint is there that I have been given a life that is from an incorruptible source. In other words, that catalyst for my spiritual life is God’s Word and it does not get old, not the Book and not the living Word which is Jesus Christ.

With Jesus living in me, I can claim the “rest” that He promises to the weary, but I can also claim His eternal life, which is part of the package. In fact, He is my life. Galatians 2:20 says,

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Nevertheless, this does not deny fatigue. The Bible also says, 

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us . . . therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4: 7, 16)

When God has a task for me (and not all things that get on my to-do list necessarily fit that category), I can rely on Him to give me what I need to do that task, including wisdom, direction, and energy. If I’m overtired, could it be that some stuff I’ve been doing is not at His direction? Maybe.

To apply this, I need to make sure I’m following His leading and not taking on things that are outside His will. I also need to rely on Him for the resources to do what He gives me. I might be tired, but “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

I might need more sleep, but I might also need some lessons on waiting.