Category Archives: Miscellaneous

You may be familiar with a traditional hymn called by the title of this post. The words go as follows:

When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey

Trust and obey
For there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey

Recently while reading through the Old Testament book of Isaiah I came to verses 17-18 of chapter 48 which drive home the truth of that hymn. The verses speak to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, who failed to trust and obey Him. The reasons and results of trusting and obeying would be true for us today though some of the specific manifestations of it may differ from them.

Reasons to Trust & Obey:

1) Because of who God is and what He has done for you.

This is what the LORD says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God” (Isa. 48:17)

2) Because of how a good God is out for your good, for what is best for you.

“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” (Isa. 48:17)

Logical Conclusion: Trust and obey the Lord in all your ways.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6)

Results of Trusting & Obeying:

1) You will have a constant flow of peace in your being.

“If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river” (Isa. 48:18)

2) You will be protected and provided for over and over again.

“If only you had paid attention to my commands, … your well-being like the waves of the sea.” (Isa. 48:18)

Logical Conclusion: Trust and obey the Lord with your mind fixed on Him and His Word.

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. (Isa. 26:3)

Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. (Ps. 1:1-3)

What might happen if the church of Ephesus in Revelations 2 kept on the same trajectory of doing all the right stuff yet decreasing in their love? We already considered the potential for them sliding into a more legalistic approach to the Christian life rather than making it about grace. Another danger is that it can make the Christian life seem like more of a drudgery than a joy. When that happens, it is so easy to get bored, discouraged, and wanting to give up. Up to this point the church of Ephesus was commended for persevering. Would they be able keep going without compromise devoid of that love they once had?

Love is the greatest motivation for living the Christian life in alignment with God (Jn. 14:15). We don’t always experience tangible rewards of living for Him right now on this earth. We often have to persevere through hard times. If we start to view the Christian life through our circumstances, rather than our love for God, we can easily get discouraged or go into the humdrums.

What to do if the Christian life has become more of a drudgery to you than a joy:

To prevent the church of Ephesus from the pitfall of simply doing all the right stuff as a Christian with a decreased intensity of love for God, He instructed them,

“remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first” (Rev. 2:5, NASB).

Remember. Reflect on all Jesus went through on your behalf. Let love and gratitude well up within you once more for all He did for you.

Repent. Admit where you have merely been going through the motions, playing the part, rather than truly loving the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Acknowledge any motivations for living the Christian life that have been more out of duty than love. Recognize your need for God’s grace.

Retool. Fix your “eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame … so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb. 12:2-3). Keep your focus on Him, and not your circumstances. Keep your love for Him at the center of all you do. Move from a self-centered, self-effort, self-persevering type of Christian life to one centered on the Lord. If the focus is truly on loving Him, how can joy not be a part of the equation.

The church of Ephesus did all the right stuff according to Jesus’ words in Revelation 2 but had lost their first love. They were fulfilling the duties but possibly for the wrong reasons. It was important for them to get back to doing what they did because of love. To stay on their current course could eventually shift their focus from the grace that had saved them to living out the Christian life by the law. That is a dangerous spot to totter because a more legalistic approach to the Christian life can bring us down. When we sin, have a dry spell, don’t “feel” the part, we will tend to beat ourselves up because of where we are which is hard to get beyond. Condemnation oppresses us and holds us down. Grace, however, frees us to reach our potential in Christ.

What to do if you’ve made the Christian life more about keeping the law than grace:

Think about Jesus’ instruction to the church of Ephesus:

“remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first” (Rev. 2:5, NASB)

Remember. Think about God’s grace. You were saved by grace through faith, nothing you did. Christ died for you while you were a sinner (Rom. 5:8)! You simply responded to the love God demonstrated on your behalf. You were saved to be in a love relationship with the Lord based on grace not condemnation (Jn. 3:16-17; 8:10-11). — “Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3)

Repent. Admit that the Christian life isn’t about what you do, right or wrong. Rather it is about what God does in and through us by His grace. His grace, the same grace that saved us, is what “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12-13).

Retool. Follow God’s exhortation to the psalmist. –“Cease striving and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10) God gave you His Spirit to produce within you what is needed to move the Christian life from a dull, lifeless, drudgery to one of excitement and adventure. Walk in His Spirit, not self-effort. If you want to “rejoice always” and be able to “give thanks in all circumstances”, then “do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:16-19). God’s grace has provided the means for you to rise above.

The church of Ephesus in Revelation 2 did all the right stuff yet Jesus said, “You have forsaken the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:4). The Christian life was becoming more about duty for them. The reason is not specifically identified in this passage but perhaps somehow they got to thinking that because they were doing what they should be doing, they had arrived. Here’s the problem: We can never out love the Lord. We will always have room to grow in our love relationship with Him. Remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Philippi. — “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more …” (Phil. 1:9)

The Christian life is a process. We never arrive. We continually press on (Phil. 3:10-14). When we get stuck in ruts it is often because we lost sight of the venture.

What to do if you feel you have gone as far as you can go in the Christian life:

We’ve been looking at Jesus’ solution for the Church in Ephesus:

Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first. (Rev. 2:5, NASB)

Remember how overwhelmed you were with the love of God when you first trusted in Him. When you realized there was nothing you could do to merit salvation (Eph. 2:8-9), that salvation was a gift of grace from a God who loved you enough to die for you (Jn 3:16; Rom. 5:8), you undoubtedly had a sense that you could never out love the Lord.

Repent of minimizing the love of God by thinking you’ve now arrived. God’s love is so great, you will always be on a journey toward loving Him more and more as He loves you. Doing things that please Him is not all He wants from you. — “To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mk. 12:33)

Retool by establishing a new goal similar to that of the Apostle Paul’s in Philippians 3:12. — “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

Even heaven is not our destination. It will be our eternal home but it is not the objective of the Christian life. Our goal is to love the Lord our God with ALL of who we are. That is something we will continue to learn to do through all of eternity. Our journey will take on a whole new dimension when we have our glorified bodies, new minds and heart in heaven, but it still will not end.

Bored with the Christian life? In a rut or dry spell? Perhaps you need to heed Jesus’ words to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2. They did all the right stuff but God said, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”

Solution to Boredom and Dry Spells in the Christian Life

Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first (Rev. 2:5, NASB)

God’s solution for the church of Ephesus was three-fold.

1) Remember

2) Repent

3) Retool

To get beyond boredom, to get out of our ruts or dry spells, we need to apply all three of these steps.

If all we do is remember how it used to be when we first came to know Jesus, we could actually find ourselves sliding into a deeper despair and discontent. If we merely try to retool, doing the deeds we did at first, without repenting, we may simply be going through the motions. We will then undoubtedly soon find ourselves back in the same condition.

Repenting is an important part of the solution that moves us from mere regrets to truly changing. The word repent deals with the mind more than behavior. The Greek word used for repent, metanoeo, comes from the word meta, meaning after or behind, and the word noeo, meaning to perceive with the mind. This suggests that after we have gotten to a certain place in our lives, we identify where we went wrong and change our way of thinking so we can get to where we should be.

When you find the Christian life to be boring or have fallen into a dry spell, stuck in a rut, you need a change of perspective so that when you “do the deeds you did at first” you can once again find meaning, purpose, and joy in it.

Ways Thinking About the Christian Life May Need to Change

Over the next four posts we will consider the following perceptions about the Christian life that you may need to change to move from boredom and dryness to the abundance of life Jesus came to give us (Jn. 10:10). Click on the links below.

1) Duty vs. Delight
2) Destination vs. Journey
3) Law vs. Grace
4) Drudgery vs Joy

When you describe the Christian life with words like duty, drudgery, destination, and law, you will not tend to enjoy it very much. You won’t tend to step out in faith as much. However, when it is about delight, joy, and grace, and you understand that you are on a journey, you will see the Christian life as an exciting adventure based on relationship, not duty.