Reading:
As for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good.
(2 Thessalonians 3:13)
Meditation:
Weariness is undoubtedly beginning to set in for some of you. You’re tired of doing the same things over and over again. And now to add to it a day of prayer and fasting. Perhaps it seems like too much to you. Where will you find the energy to keep on going? How will you not grow weary of doing good?
One of the interesting things about the gospel message is that it reveals to us that we don’t actually have what it takes to do all the things that God commands of us. Indeed, we fail every day, and each of us knows discouragement. And when we’re tired, our tempers are shorter and we are less forgiving—with others and with ourselves. Weariness only makes us worse people than we otherwise would have been. We simply can’t do it.
But it’s only after we admit this that we are actually able to receive the good news. Until we come up against our limits and our inability to change ourselves or to love people the way we know we should, we will never reach out for the grace of God in Jesus. Because that grace is that Jesus does for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. He stands in our place. He fulfills the law of God where we failed.
And what’s interesting is that, once you are willing to place your faith in Jesus, this commandment takes on a new character. Because no longer are you looking for your own resources when you grow weary. Instead, realizing that your own resources won’t do, you turn again to the one that can provide, the one who gives you the grace you need to keep going.
So as the weariness sets in and as you add to your life this day of prayer and fasting, don’t look to yourself to supply what you know you don’t have. Instead, draw near to Jesus in prayer and know that his promise is to draw near to you. He will strengthen you. Trust him.
Prayer:
Jesus, you are my savior. Thank you so much for rescuing me from my sin, and thank you for meeting me in my weakness and weariness. Would you please show your power through me and make me an agent of your saving grace. I’m hopeless without you.
Make this day of prayer and fasting one that brings glory to your name.
Amen.