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Every one of us has at least one (or truthfully many) strange friends! And I my friend am no different. You see, I have a friend who oddly enough, feels the need to remind me, every winter, “January is a bad month for me.” I thought, maybe she gets the credit card slips from Christmas, or something. But before I could ponder it too long, she says, “You know my biorhythms are always down in January. I feel unmotivated; everything just simply goes wrong for me in January.” Needless to say, I don’t spend a lot of time with her in January because I want to stay motivated at all times even when the going gets rough I still want to stay motivated.
Well, I’m not sure about the biorhythms being the reason for a bad January, but there is an interesting new area that scientists have explored. The biorhythm idea is that our lives are significantly affected by predictable, physical cycles, intellectual cycles, emotional cycles etc. Actually, a biorhythm could be just a fancy new word for a condition that’s as old as mankind. It goes like this, “I just don’t feel like it.” Maybe that’s what we’re really talking about here. Because truth is, that’s the reason for a lot of things we do or fail to do. Simply Put, With No Scientific Babble Attached: “I Just Don’t Feel Like It.“
I guess that’s why couples promise to keep their marriage vows: “as long as we both shall live“, instead of “as long as I feel like it.” Because in honesty, “feelings change” and can you imagine if marriages ended in divorce every time a spouse no longer “felt like it?” And truthfully, there have been times when I didn’t “feel like it” 20 times in one hour, one day, one week, one month and one year! Maybe that’s the reason why so many marriages, especially and unfortunately, but Christian Marriages are ending in divorce at the rapid pace they are. You see, over the years we simply alter our vows from, “till death” to “till I no longer feel like it.”
Listen, your life depends greatly on what you do on those days when you simply feel flat and fatigued. Think about it: Who would have a job if they quit every time they no longer “felt like it?” Who would Pastor the church if every minister of the Gospel closed the church doors every day they simply “didn’t feel like it anymore?” What would we do with our children if all the teachers decided not to show up at school because they “no longer felt like it?” Where would our public transportation be if all the transit workers decided, “today is just not a good day for me. My biorhythms are off this month. I’m staying home for a while, because I just don’t feel like it”. And dare we even imagine what the hospitals and clinics would be like with all the doctors, dentists, chiropractors, and nurses out for a 3 month long “I just don’t feel like it” break! How about if all the lawyers, police, fire department, correction officers, judges, janitors, and government officials, all decided “I need a break” and stay home on the couch for the next 6 months, because “I just don’t feel like it”?! In other words, if left unchecked, that “I don’t feel like it” can grow into a terminal disease that kills you and everything and everyone attached to you!
In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, if biorhythms are accurate, I would have to suggest that Paul’s biorhythms were extremely low at the time of this letter. I don’t know whether it was a bad month in his life or a bad time, but listen to this and think about how he must have been feeling. He says, “To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.” (vs. 11 NIV). Now, it may just be me, but Paul doesn’t sound like he’s feeling the greatest at this moment. I don’t think he was necessarily feeling like treating people gently and kindly…wanting to work on what needed to be done. You ever feel like that? “I just don’t feel like doing what I have to do. I don’t feel like praying. I don’t feel like being very unselfish right now. I don’t feel particularly ‘churchy’ at this moment.” And could we honestly blame him? After all, at that very moment he was hungry, thirsty, dressed in raggedy clothes, brutally treated and homeless! Now if anybody had a right to a bad day and a bad attitude it was Paul!
However, here’s how he operated. It says in verse 12, “We work hard with our own hands…” (NIV) even though he was experiencing all of that, he continued to work and the Bible continues to read, “…When we are cursed, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure it. When we are slandered, we answer kindly…” (NIV). You say, “What in the world has kept Paul functioning so victoriously when he probably doesn’t feel like it?” Because truthfully, we’ve all had days that were no-where near this bad, and yet if we could’ve thrown in the towel and walked away we would have. And many of us can be brutally honest, and admit that we did just that. But in the midst of how Paul may have justifiably been feeling, he didn’t curse, he blessed, when persecuted, he endured it, and when slandered he yet answered kindly. I don’t know about you, but the question in my mind when I read this was “How In The World Can You Respond Like This, After Dealing With All Of That?!”
Well, I learned just a few verses up the vital key. It’s found in 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (NIV). There is the word that takes over where your feelings leave off – FAITHFUL. When you don’t feel like it, you must remain faithful to the call you answered.
Look at this same verse in a few translations:
“Now the most important thing about a servant is that he does just what his master tells him to” (TLB)
“A servant must be faithful to his owner. This is expected of him.” (NLV)
“The one thing required of such servants is that they be faithful to their master.” (GNT).
Are you getting it? Regardless to feelings, you are charged to remain faithful!
Maybe you’re in a time right now where you just don’t feel like doing what you’re supposed to do. You started when the feeling was there, but now you feel flat; you just don’t feel like following through on your school work, or your job, or that ministry or marriage that you were once so excited about. You’ve lost your enthusiasm, your zeal, your momentum. You don’t feel like reaching out to the people in your family or your community. Maybe you feel more like withdrawing into a cave somewhere. You simply don’t feel like finishing what you started. You don’t feel like keeping your commitment or you don’t feel like taking your time away with Jesus.
You’re at a crossroads right now, and that crossroads will determine whether you’re a roller coaster Christian or a solid rock Christian. See, the difference in the people God can trust and can’t trust is that word FAITHFUL. You’ve been given a trust. Will you be faithful to that trust even when the feeling isn’t there and depend on His resources because now you don’t have any?
And what’s the big whoop about being faithful even when you don’t feel like it? God’s reward will be these words, “…Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I’ll make you ruler over many…” (NKJV) Another version says it like this: “…His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.” (Matthew 25:23 MSG). Can you imagine GOD of all people wanting to partner up with YOU and all because you were FAITHFUL when you didn’t FEEL like it?! If that’s not incentive, I don’t know what is!
You see, whether the feelings come back or not, you keep moving faithfully toward your goal. Finish the project hang in there at the job keep pressing on in the ministry keep praying over your marriage. No matter what you feel like, remember the fruit of faithfulness is hearing His well done and becoming His partner!
And please believe me, this is not just encouragement nonsense, It’s not easy receiving a diagnosis from the doctor that turns your world upside down; it’s stressful trying to maintain a marriage, with two spouses in leadership roles. I’m proud of my education and degrees, but they did not come without price (and that has nothing to do with the tuition), the long nights, and longer papers can take an extreme toll on your body, mind and spirit. Then you have family members and friends who need counsel, advice, prayer, guidance, not to mention the ministry that expects you to teach them happy and preach them happier, And truth is, if I listened to my biorhythms, I would have thrown in the towel on all of it years ago! Why? Because there are times when I JUST DON’T FEEL LIKE IT!
But like you, I don’t get to negotiate my faithfulness to God. I expect Him to do what He’s promised He’d do, and likewise, He expects me to do what I promised I’d do. And sometimes that requires being faithful even when I don’t feel like it. It means going to prayer when you’d rather go to bed; it means reading your Bible when you’d rather watch a movie’; it means talking to God when you’d rather get on the phone and play catch up with your friends; it means working on your marriage when you’d rather pack your tools away and quit the project; it means continuing to advise your children even when it seems like the advice goes in one ear and immediately falls out the other one. It means going to work when you’d rather go to the airport and hop on a plane to ANYWHERE ELSE! It means going to the gym when you’d rather go to Baskin & Robbin! It means paying your bills when you’d rather go get that car you saw on the dealership lot or that furniture you saw while window shopping on the internet! It means being obedient when you’d rather seek out another option!
Are you getting this? None of us are exempt! We all have moments when we don’t feel like it, yet, God requires of us His children AND His stewards to be found faithful always!
I mean truthfully where in Scripture does it say Jesus went skipping up to Golgotha? Where does it say He was laughing while carrying His cross? Where does it say His obedience and faithfulness were not painful? Where does it say He sung praise and worship songs all the way to the grave? Where does it say He stretched out His arm on the cross and loved every minute of it? Jesus had it harder than any of us ever have or ever will, YET, He remained as much human as divine. He wept; slept; ate; drank; got hungry; was thirsty; had to pray; got frustrated with the people He led; laid hands on people no one else would; restored folks; healed folks; forgave folks; delivered folks; saved folks, and still He never discarded His humanity. And neither should you!
Press on in your faithfulness to your assignment even when you don’t feel like it in your flesh! HOWEVER, you still need to know when to slow down; when to rest; when to sleep and eat, and certainly when to say no, without excuses, apologies or reasons. But even when you take a break, your break shouldn’t be so long that the Holy Spirit has to come and reset a brand new fire under you to get you back up and back to work in the Kingdom!
Listen no matter what readings you may be receiving from your biorhythms, you remember to be faithful, even when you don’t feel like it. Faithfulness will always be rewarded! Don’t you dare come this far in God only to miss reaping your reward now! Even when your flesh feels weak, make sure your spirit stays willing!
“To that one soul reading this; I know you’re tired. You’re fed up. You’re so close to breaking but there’s strength within you even when you feel weak. Keep fighting.” (Author Unknown)
“If you’re tired, learn to rest, not quit!” (Author Unknown)
“In place of our exhaustion and spiritual fatigue, God will give us rest. All He asks is that we come to Him…that we spend a while thinking about Him, meditating on Him, talking to Him, listening in silence, occupying ourselves with Him – totally and thoroughly lost in the hiding place of His presence.”
Blessings
J.P. Olson
https://www.thewordwithjpolson.org
If You Have Not Had The Opportunity To Listen To My New CD That Was Released In March 2020, Refreshed Refined Renewed Revived, I am recommending that you take a listen to some of the songs. Here Is A Link To Hear Clippings Of All Songs. https://jpolson.hearnow.com/
To Purchase CD for $15.00 including shipping. https://jpolsonmusic.com
I know that your heart will be touched by these songs of Worship & Exhortation to God during this time of uncertainty in the land.
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