The Exhausting Christian Life

Romans 7:15-16 

Many Christians are tired; some are very tired. They don’t have the passion for God they once had and feel a vague guilt about it. The sequence follows a predictable pattern: seasons of renewed expectation and energetic pursuit, followed by disappointment, and finally, utter exhaustion. The apostle Paul faced the same dilemma: a desire to do good but an inability to get it done. What he described in Romans 7:15–18, and what many of us experience too often, is the exhausting Christian life. We try serving, spending ourselves working for Christ in search of a fuller Christian experience through ministry involvement. Exhausted, we pull back for a season and pursue Bible knowledge. We undertake Bible studies, quiet-time schedules, and books about spiritual disciplines. These too last for a season. And while good may come through serving and focused time in God’s Word, often we feel like the joy we are promised at conversion is eluding us. It’s time to make a once-and-for-all decision to be done with the exhausting Christian life. Just as we can’t become Christians until we come to the end of ourselves, so we also can’t experience the true Christian life until we come to the end of our own efforts. There is hope and a power source for transformation beyond our efforts. But until we fully recognize we are the problem—we are the reason Jesus is not seen in us—until we stop trying to live the Christian life in our own strength and let Christ live His life through us, we will always be exhausted.

Questions for further thought:
1. How long has it been since you’ve lived with a deep passion for God? What was different about your perspective then?
2. In what ways do you resonate with the description of the exhausted Christian life?

Challenge: Commit to stop trying to live the Christian life, and let Jesus start living the Christian life through you!