Driving on when we feel like bailing out

Kirk Wellum recently reflected on the wearying pace of 21st century life:

Let's face it: life is not easy. No one said it would be and in addition to everything else Christians must remember that we face spiritual opposition that the world knows nothing about. It is not unusual to feel extremely tired when a time of prayer is scheduled or there is an opportunity to hear the word of God. Quite frankly, we just need to learn to expect such weariness, not take it too seriously and push beyond it. Chances are it will pass and we will feel just fine. Just because we are weary doesn't mean we can't work through it. The fact that anything is being done indicates that someone is doing just that!

This is a lesson that all useful Christians learn. With God's help they learn how to press on in spite of their feelings. If we are always ready to bail out on the basis of our feelings we will not be of much use to the Master. We need to realize that we can do all things through him who gives us strength! And we need to look for inspiration to those who have demonstrated what this looks like in real life instead of taking the path of least resistence.

Kirk's essay takes up a theme discussed last month at ekklesia in "Praying When I Hardly Feel Anything."

Update: Swap Blog has a few more words on the subject here.