August '24

He will not grow faint or be discouraged 

till he has established justice in the earth; 

and the coastlands wait for his law (Is 42:4).

Ever felt discouraged? Feeling discouraged at the moment?

I find it easy to feel this way. On Saturday night, Brandon showed me Mario Kart. I am not good at Mario Kart. There I am, determined to get ahead, and I crash into a wall. But, I'm resolved to fix it so I get going again. But then I get bombed by another racer. And then I drive into the water. And then I drive into a trap. And then somehow I'm driving backwards because I have no clue where I'm going. And now I'm in 12th place. And all of this in the space of about 23 seconds.

The Christian life can feel like this. We mean well, we're zealous, and we're excited to run the race set before us. And things start going wrong. We fail to resist temptation well. There's bickering in our households. Our evangelistic attempt was an 'achieved' at best. We do something foolish. We drop the ball. A week goes by and we haven't started on this new spiritual discipline. A prayer remains unanswered. It feels like life keeps throwing fuel on the fire of discouragement that you're trying to put out.

In times like this, it's good to pause and zoom out. It's good news that Christianity is more about who Jesus is than what we do. Jesus, our great king and high priest, is getting stuff done. Isaiah 42:4, which prophesies the work of the ascended King, tells us that he does not grow faint or get discouraged. When we want to tap out, Jesus has gusto. Jesus' programme is going ahead as planned. "[His] Father is working until now, and [he is] working” (John 5:17), his "gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations" (Mt 24:14), his "enemies [are being made] a footstool for [his] feet” (Heb 1:13), and "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Hab 2:14). He's having a very productive day today. He's not having hiccups. Even what we perceive to be failures and detours are part of his divine wisdom.

Christian, remember: In your struggle with this world, Jesus is "making all things new" (Rev 21:5). We taste some of that now as we have these little victories in growing to be like him. And we'll taste fully when he comes back and we are changed to be like him. In the scheme of things, you're actually right on track. A Christian is never late, nor is he early, he is precisely where Jesus means him to be.

Ps Phil Brown