When You Get Tired Of Doing Good

Recently I’ve noticed some benevolence fatigue. A lot of folk are tired of serving, tired of giving, tired of bending. After all it’s a big burden being like Jesus! Right? Some of us are “sucking for air” so to speak. Why? Perhaps because we’ve been trying to resource what has not been sourced. The demand from everyone and everywhere is high, and the supply is low.

The cold hard fact is, we will never be able to meet this generation’s demands with natural resources. What we do as salt and light dispensers does not follow the secular “job” format. To do what has to be done requires a calling of the supernatural kind.

So, if you’re one of those that will admit to being tired, I encourage you to revisit your “calling”.

More than a few years ago as a mischievous and yet innocent preteen I heard, or should I say, experienced the voice of God. I remember explicitly how it felt and still feels to be “called”.

Imagine a giant hook thrown out by God. It grabs your spirit and emotions down in their deepest parts. A gentle tug at first and then an assertive pull. Although there’s an indication that you have a choice to accept or reject, rejection isn’t an option. You know without a doubt that what you’re being called to do is what you were born to do.
Anything less invites misery.

For me, to be “called” was not a one time event but a perpetual invoking. Relative to ministry, “the call” initiates a continual “calling”. Perhaps this is what Elisha felt when the great prophet Elijah walked by and swept his mohair mantle against Elisha’s sun leathered skin. (1 Kings 19:19-21)

That “call” was an invocation, if you will. It caused him to follow Elijah. Eventually and ultimately the “calling” caused him to seek a “double portion”.

After 40 years of ministry, I still find myself being motivated by this inseparable tandem of “the call” and “the calling”. I have been called, and I’m still responding to the calling of God.

My strength and weakness seem to travel the same path, my strength being a belief that, “I can do all things through Christ.” (Philippians 4:13) My weakness is believing that I can do all things at once in one day! My solution is being patient and being careful not to become “weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Our callings will continue to manifest themselves in the tension between our strengths and weaknesses.

Paul said, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14)

For Paul, the “call” was not just a destination but a journey. This journey often requires us to cling to the promise until we obtain the “prize”. For some of us at times that call ceases to be resident. It’s only a faint memory so we faint just before an opportunity to flourish.

Throughout the Bible, God often called people to Himself and to His work. For example, Abraham was called to leave his home and to travel to a place of promise (Gen. 12:1-9). Paul was “called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:1). Paul admonishes the Ephesian church that God “gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers…..” to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)

The “call” for the Christian is primarily into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything else, including the five fold ministry talked about by Paul, flows from that commitment to Jesus. I have noticed that during the multiple seasons of my ministry, my calling has never been able to exceed my commitment.

“Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism and direction lived out as a response of his summons and service.” -Os Guinness

Jesus Himself offered the solution. He was constantly saying, “I must be about the Father’s business.” I believe He spoke this to His own humanity as much as the crowd around Him. The fact that it was the “father’s business” kept Him from becoming weary.

You must stop connecting your “calling" to what you do and attach it to who called you. Then what you do is unto Him for them! His calling to you for relationship must always be louder than the world calling to you for rescue. If not, you’ll arrive at the abyss of hopelessness with no hope to give.

Seriously, stop what you’re doing right now, get still, and listen. His voice is eternal and His calling without repentance. It’s time to recall.