Wanna join the GNW club?

What is the GNW club anyway?  GNW stands for Grow Not Weary!  And truth be told, I haven't organized an official club, but the thought has occurred to me.  People grow tired of working at their marriages, tired of parenting without seeing the kind of fruit they desire, tired of trying to lose weight, tired of living with disability or chronic illness, tired of looking for employment, tired of missing a loved one, tired of waiting for an adoption referral or waiting to be united, and tired of so many things.  This theme seems to enter many a conversation and I wonder if I could be doing more to encourage myself and others to GROW NOT WEARY.  I think it is a challenge common to mankind.

I saw this message on facebook the other day:

That isn't a bad helpful hint, so long as you have solid reasons for holding on in the first place.  I wrote a post a few days ago called A Solid Rock.  Christ is always a good reason for persevering!  He needs to be my ultimate reason for everything I think, do and say.  When I start constructing my own agenda and goals, even if I have a list a mile long of what I think are good reasons for pursuing them, I'll end frustrated and grow weary every time because God is faithful to draw me back to Himself and expose my idols. Thank you, Jesus.

So as I think about this, I am pretty sure that the way to encourage myself and others to not grow weary is to help us focus on Christ, His ways, His heart, His promises, His ever-sufficient grace.

God tells us in 2 Peter 1:5-7 that "...giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,  to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."  That is a high call!  That is a hefty to-do list in a broken world.  And guess what?  If our focus is the to-do list alone, I can pretty near guarantee that you and I will grow weary.  The load will feel too heavy to our saved-but-not-fully-sanctified selves.

You see, verse 5 begins with this phrase: "But also for this very reason...".  Ah!  What reason?  Let's look.  In verses 1-2, we're told Peter is writing to those "who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.  He opens with the blessing of grace and peace being multiplied to them (and us) in the knowledge of God.  Then in verse 3-4, Peter assures those of us who have been granted faith that "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

In other words, the only way we are ever going to tackle God's "to do" list is to remember His reason.  God has given us everything we need for life and godliness and also given us exceedingly great and precious promises.  It is through the knowledge of Him who has called us, through His promises that we're going to grow not weary.  His calling is sure, His provision is sure, His promises are sure...we can bank on it!

Sometimes weariness is used by God to expose our idols, sometimes it is a call to lean harder into Jesus and to trust His call and His promises.  Ask yourself if you are constructing your own agenda or if you are following God's.  We use the phrase "Get on the Jesus train" at our house to redirect any who seem to be holding to their own agenda...the Jesus train is for all those who (like Peter said so well) "have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ."  He is the Conductor and He will surely get us all to our destination.   Do you wanna join the GNW club?  Get on board!

Gal 6:9 "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."