Working through a theme called "count me in" [a response to god's love in Christ]; I've been challenged to sum up my life purpose and goal in a sentence. What would it be? It's a hard question to answer, especially at times when I feel like my life is going in 30 different directions and the demands are increasing on every side. But for a purpose - how about - loving God with everything. That sounds good, but can I do it. What about now, right now, I'm tired, frustrated, feel like I'm not connecting with others in conversation. What about now, I'm running on empty, and God is all about fullness.
Ephesians 6:10 is an odd kind of challenge: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Or better, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Or, as some put it, be empowered in the Lord and in His mighty power. It all starts with one word of conclusion: finally.
After 6 chapters of ephesians Paul has just dealt with some of the hardest relationships we will ever encounter in life: marriage, children, and employers. Each one causes stress in unique ways, and the overarching call to the Christian in all of these relationships is: submint one to another. There is stress in relating to the opposite sex, whether boyfriend/girlfriend or husband and wife of 50 years. There's a beautiful mystery always inside the opposite, and loving them exposes that mystery. But sometimes life happens and it gets hard. Their affections stray, our eyes stray. We build emotional walls as boyfriends and girlfriends to protect us from hurt, and then they have to come down or else marriage doesn't have the intimacy it deserves and requires. And then there's divorce... it just hurts. How can we survive? be strong in the Lord.
An after thought of divorce is children. I've talked with a lot of adult kids whose parents broke the news at the worst possbile time, though there is never a good time for news like that. So instead of escaping the stress of a relationship all the anger and hurt is poured onto the kid's shoulders, and the parents do their best, but one usually ends up doing everything while the other becomes just like a child, shirking responsibility. Not just the financial sort, but the emotional, spiritual type of responsibility that only comes by journeying through life with your child, not on the phone or email. Kids also do things that make parents unhappy - we all have. We probably enjoyed it. I remember one time hiding a... well, that doesn't matter. Family life is hard.
And then, on top of all that, is work. Work usually drains some energy, if it doesn't you might find yourself without it very soon. And there are always other people to work with and sometimes they are all kinds of annoying, we'd rather lock ourselves in a cublicle and hide under the desk than spends 5 minutes talking to them. It can be draining, but there must be more than just trying to appease a co-worker or a boss. How does the toll-collector get motivated to go to the booth every morning? How does the janitor find joy in cleaning up a middle school locker room? How does a hospice nurse find hope? There can only be one place... Finally, be strong in the Lord. Faith in the Lord is the only place to find strength in difficulties. I've never been powerful enough on my own to overcome difficult times, especially relationship difficulties. It's required faith and humility and strength in the Lord. But being strong in the Lord is also about shining for God, who alone fills me enough to carry on when I'm empty. In many ways being empty is good - God's strength is that much more evident, all praise to Him.
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