Continual Connection

07.24.12

Isaiah 42.4 4 “He will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.” NASB

It occurred to me this morning that Jesus never got depressed. He was concerned for people, He fought against injustice (notably the injustice of the Pharisees and Sadducees – He pretty much left the Romans alone.) But Jesus never had a down day. He may have become physically weary but He was in such continual connection with the Father that He never focused on anything but the Father’s will for others. Such is connection with God.

I think we think that God wants to take from us and that is because we foolishly think we own things: time, money, resources, relationships. We don’t own anything. All that we have and do – and are – are God’s. The only thing we “have” is response and how we respond to God’s invitation to participate in His ministry to this world. What we have is our attitude towards God and what He’s accomplishing in the world around us.

Jesus didn’t save every person He came into contact with – that wasn’t His mission. His mission was to do whatever the Father told Him to do. And that He did faithfully. Jesus served His Father intentionally, purposely, and strategically. Jesus served His Father publicly and privately. And despite the treatment He received from men, He never got frustrated, or tired, or bored, or depressed about the mission. Even in the midst of the arrest, trial, flogging, crucifixion, and death, Jesus never wavered in His focus upon God.

My problem is my immature approach to my faith. I think as I have been taught: my faith is all about me. How foolish! I was not saved to focus on me but to do as the Lord Jesus did: stay in continual communication and connection with the Father. To the one who continually seeks the Father comes power, purpose, and peace. The power to act. The purpose to motivate. And the peace to know that all is well because God is in control and never misses a beat… nor makes a mistake… or sends me on a wild-goose chase.

How foolish I am to think or even entertain the thought that my life in Christ is up to me. What an indicator of whose power I am walking in when I get discouraged or mentally depleted because things aren’t going as I planned! Can you imagine what was going through the Savior’s mind as He went to the cross? He wasn’t feeling sorry for Himself! He wasn’t feeling all was lost. He was triumphant! He was jubilant! And no one saw it but God. Jesus was doing what God told Him to do.

And we’re to do the same. What would Jesus do? He’d obey. He’d never break continual connection with the Father and do just exactly as the Father led Him to do. I am no different except that I have failed miserably in the continual connection part. I have failed by getting angry and depressed and mad that people won’t do what I want them to do. I have failed in that I have lived much of my Christian life thinking and acting as if it was all up to me to make this thing work. Again, how foolish.

Today’s plan: stay connected. As I work my job, look for God in it and stay connected. Seek the Lord and work at thinking about Him. And then see what happens. And when depression, or poor-pitiful-me starts to creep in, know it’s at those precise moments I’ve let my life wander off to other things and have lost connection with what is really important.