Preparation Time

“If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustest, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭12‬:‭5‬ ‭

I was reading this in Jeremiah this morning and my heart was quickened! Have you ever heard the term fair weather Christian? We want to complain and whine and cry like spoiled brats at the least little offence, but praise God when we are on the mountain top. We like Paul need to find a balance. He said I learned to be content in much and just as content when I was destitute. He also said I became all things to all men that I might save the one.

What my point?

Great question child of God! It’s time to truly prepare. What causes us to be weary at the easy going of things? It’s two things:
1. We are so immature and full of self that at every whip stitch we get aggravated, frustrated and tore up
2. We lack endurance. How do you get endurance? By practicing.

My oldest son lifts a ton of weights at the gym. I can’t even budge the things he picks up and tosses around like match sticks, but he didn’t start there. He built up a tolerance to be able to stand under the pressure of these large weights. This goes all the way back to point one. His muscles started out immature but as they groaned in pain when everyone else would’ve quit from the pain and soreness, he set a goal and told his muscles to shut up. He put his “flesh” under subjection to his will. His muscles matured into what they are now.

It’s time the Church decided to endure the wrong and the offence. It’s time the Church told its flesh to shut up and begin to bear the weight of adversity until its muscles can mature and endure the pressure so that it can effectuate the change needed to be a catalyst of change for our communities. We can’t be that church without walls if we get weary every time opposition comes? If we get weary in the easy stuff when the true judgment starts falling how can we expect to be that safe harbor we claim to be? When the storms are so bad that it causes the Jordan to swell and become a mad boiling ocean, how will we be the shores of safety for the people around us when we can’t get over someone not agreeing with our ideology.

IT IS PAST THE TIME FOR the CHURCH TO MATURE! Grow up men of God. Grow up women of God. It’s time we become what God’s called us to be!