Fighting for Life

Living the Christian life is hard.  One week you’re on fire for the Lord, the next week you struggle to open your Bible.  One week you’re sharing your faith with boldness, the next week your fear of man keeps you from admitting you’re even a Christian.  One week you’re excited about gathering for corporate worship, the next week you decide you’d rather sleep in and skip church.  One week you find victory over sin, the next week you’ve fallen headlong into the very sin you thought you’d beaten.  For so many, the Christian life seems to be a roller coaster ride of constant highs and lows.  The consistent and steady walk with Christ seems to be unattainable. As you creep along in the Christian life you seem to take one step forward and two steps back.  If this sounds all too familiar, you’re probably sensing the mounting frustration produced by this cycle.

Is this the way we are supposed to live the Christian life?  Seriously, up and down, up and down?  Certainly, we will always struggle with sin and wage war against our sinful fleshly passions (Rom. 6:12), but can we have a consistent Christian walk that has a steady and increasing measure of spiritual growth and maturity?  Can we move beyond the “on fire for Jesus” highs and the “down-in-the-dumps” lows?  In short… YES!  While this isn’t the only issue, it is one of the most important to understand.  I trust it will provide some basic building blocks to help you find and maintain a level of consistency in your spiritual life.

I’ve Lost My Desire!

It’s been my experience, both personally and observationally; that Christians tend to base their spiritual life on how they feel.  In other words, experience and emotion tend to be both the foundation and the catalyst for growth in the Christian life.   Take for example the new believer.  Young in the faith and excited about their new life in Christ (as they should be!), they have a zeal and passion that is fresh and invigorating.  These new passions and affections for God’s Word, prayer and evangelism are certainly marks of someone who has been given new life.  However, in almost every case, there comes a time when that new believer begins to loose that zeal and passion.  Often times, they begin to struggle with old sins and fall back into sinful patterns of living, not understanding why their passion for God’s Word has been squelched.  Certainly, sin has a searing effect upon our lives and hinders passion.  But, even if sin is not the issue, the initial, youthful passion is typically lessened as time goes on.

What exactly has happened?  What’s happened is that the believer has based their growth on their measure of passion!  So, when they no longer feel like reading the Bible, praying, fighting sin or evangelizing… they don’t.  They await a reinvigorated desire, a fresh burst of passion, an extra dose of zeal.  They wait and they wait and they wait.  Sin mounts up and life goes on until the next crisis hits and brings the gust of desire back… temporarily at least.  What a sad, defeating and frustrating way to live the Christian life, waiting for the next wave of emotion to carry you along, only to get knocked back twice as far by the typhoon that comes out of nowhere. Believe me, I’ve tried this approach and it doesn’t work.  So what’s the answer?

It’s All About Commitment.

Simply put, riding the emotional rollercoaster is entirely unbiblical.  Scripture never teaches that our spiritual life is based on emotions or feelings.  It is based on commitment.  Let me add a brief footnote here lest you misunderstand me.  Emotions are great.  God is an emotive being and He has created us in like manner. However, God has not created us to be controlled by our emotions, He’s called us and given us the ability to control them.  Emotions are not the final authority nor are they the compass to guide us through this life. Emotions must be viewed through the lens of God’s Word and they must ultimately be surrendered to Him daily. His Word must be our guide, it must be our map and compass, it alone can reorient our emotions and bring them into the proper perspective.

I’m all about praying for renewed desire.  But, I’ve found time and time again that desire follows faithfulness to the commitment I’ve made to Christ.  Desire tends to be the by-product of digging deep into God’s Word, getting down on my knees and spending intentional time in prayer, confessing, repenting, and praising.

If I relied on my level of desire, I’d get very little done in life.  Do you really “desire” to get up and go to work in the morning? Maybe you do, most people don’t. But they do it anyways because they’ve made a commitment to fulfill the requirements of their job.  Do you really desire to clean the toilet, wash the car, tidy the house, make supper, change one more diaper (I think I’m preaching to myself here)?  My guess is that the answer to almost all of those questions is a hearty “no.” But, you do it anyways and more often than not, there is a sense of fulfillment and joy from completing these tasks.  Of course, as believers, we know that whatever we do, we have an opportunity to glorify our great God.  Everything we do is an opportunity to worship (1 Cor. 10:31).

What's Your Foundation?

Consider marriage as an illustration.  Marriage is an incredible blessing and a source of great emotional joy and satisfaction.  However, no marriage is sustainable if emotion and desire is the foundation of the relationship. True, God honouring marriages are built upon commitment.  Just in case you think I’m saying something Scripture doesn’t affirm, read these two verses (Mal. 2:14; Prov. 2:17).  Both refer to marriage as being a covenant.  Covenant language is particularly significant in Scripture.  It signifies permanence and a high degree of commitment.  God views marriage as a sacred covenant that was intended to be permanent.  The only exception and allowance for breaking this covenant (divorce) is adultery or abandonment by an unbelieving spouse (Matt. 19:5-9; 1 Cor. 7:15), but divorce is always a last resort and is merely permitted not expected.

While emotion is certainly praised in the marital union, it is commitment that under girds the relationship.  If you’ve been married for any length of time, you know that things are not always pretty.  You don’t always have the love, joy and desire that you should.  In fact, your spouse can really get on your nerves at times (of course I know nothing about this, but I’ve heard it’s true ;).  Can you imagine you only did things for your spouse when you were feeling like it?  “Sorry hun, I can’t take the smelly garbage out to the garage, I really don’t have much desire to do that right now.”  Um, trust me, not a great decision.

Sadly, so many marriages end in divorce because they are based solely on emotion.  How many times have you heard the words, “I just don’t love you anymore.”  Every time I hear someone use those words I want to say, “I don’t care. Marriage is built on a commitment, not on a false understanding of what love is.”  Love is viewed as an emotion in our culture, but Scripture always defines love by action and obedience.  Essentially, love has very little to do with how we feel, it’s about serving others, putting others interests above our own, obeying what God’s Word says,  even if we don’t “feel” like it.  What’s interesting is that so many so-called Christians justify walking away from their Savior or walking away from his commands based on this faulty logic.  “Sorry Jesus, I just can’t obey you today because I don’t have the desire.”

Here it is, plain and simple:  You’re obedience to Christ is not based upon desire; it’s based upon commitment.

You will find, as I do in my walk with Christ, that when you choose, and yes it is a choice, to bring your feelings and emotions under control and in line with God’s Word, desire will follow obedience.  It may not be right away all the time, but it’s inevitable, the desire will follow the constant pattern of heartfelt obedience.

When Jesus called the disciples he simply said, “Follow me.”  As they followed Him, they too realized that their relationship was not built on emotion but on commitment.  In fact, their commitment was often neglected because of their emotions. It was their emotions (under the influence of sin of course) that led them astray and even caused Peter to deny Christ three times.

When Christ called you He spoke those very words to your soul, “Follow me.”  He never promised you an easy ride or a steady dose of desire and passion.  He promised you hardship and trials, persecution and humiliation.  But, through every trial there is a blessing and through every wilderness there is an oasis waiting for those who are faithful.  In the midst of these seasons, your emotions will try to lead you astray.  That’s why Christ said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matt. 16:24).”  Did you catch that?  Deny yourself.  Die to self.  This has nothing to do with how you feel.  This is the commitment you made.

Don’t let your emotions rule you, bring them under subjection to the Word of God and the Sprit of God.  Keep your eyes fixed on Christ, after all, it is He alone that has the words of life (John 6:68).  When your desire runs cold, remember your commitment to follow Him and His commitment to never let you go (John 10:28).   Rest in His promises and the Hope we have in Him, then, pursue Christ by presenting your life daily as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable to Him (Rom. 12:1-2).