“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
–Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV–

Jesus once told a story about a rich young man who asked what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus replied, “You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:18-19 ESV). The young man said he has kept all these commandments, but still asks what he lacked. Jesus then told him to sell all his possessions, give them to the poor, and follow him. The young man left Jesus in sorrow, because he had great possessions.

Jesus makes it pretty clear—time and time again—how we should live our lives. He tells us what’s important and what’s not through plain and simple parables. Remember, those who didn’t understand Jesus were often the Pharisees and hypocrites who had their own interests to protect. Yet we seek the true way of life only to reply, “Yeah, but [insert excuse here].” So often we approach Jesus like the rich young man and leave a hypocrite. Our good intentions are not enough. It’s the follow-through that decides how we enter the kingdom of heaven.

In our efforts to be a disciple of Jesus, what makes us weary isn’t the lack of time, or taking on too much, or not having enough support, or not knowing which choices to make. It’s our inability to give back everything we have and follow Jesus. It’s not physically hard to sell all our possessions and give to the poor. What makes it hard is our emotional and financial attachment to our possessions. Some things, like gifts or souvenirs, are hard to emotionally let go of. Other things, like a big house or the other car, are harder to let go of when we don’t get a fair return on the investment. Even when it comes to our time, after a long week at work we feel like we deserve a break from everything. And when it comes to these things, we make the “Yeah, but…” excuses. Sure, they might be valid excuses in this world, but they only make it more difficult to enter into the new world, where the first will be last and the last first.

When what we have, whether it be possessions, money, or even time, comes into conflict with what God wants of us, that’s when we grow weary. We feel it’s fair to at least have a bit of our own possessions, a bit of our own money, and a bit of our own time. But when it’s our own then it means we’re relying on our own strength. If we give these up to God, however, He will renew our strength and we can run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. It doesn’t mean that if we give back everything we have then we’ll easily gain more. We’ll actually just end up with nothing. My challenge to you is that we can still own things and fully give them up to God.

Instead of owning a house in the suburbs and calling it your own, you can own a house in the inner city and be a light to the community. (Sure, you can be a light to the suburbs too, but Jesus didn’t eat, drink and help the well off. He ate, drank and helped the poor, the sick and the outcast). In that house you can own a kitchen and still cook for the hungry; you can own four bedrooms and give someone without a house somewhere to sleep; you can own a living room and give kids a place to do their homework with someone to help them. And the best thing is you don’t have to do it alone! Why can’t three or four friends, or two families even, buy a place together and serve the community? (If this sounds familiar it’s because I’ve been deeply challenged by Shane Claiborne’s book “The Irresistible Revolution”).

I’m still a hypocrite in many ways, but I’m trying to remedy that. I own an SUV that costs a lot to drive and maintain, but if you’re ever moving or in need of a large vehicle then it’s yours. I still live in the suburbs, but a seminary student was looking for a place to live and we have two extra rooms, so we offered one of the spare rooms free of charge (for the sake of transparency, it does help that my parents own the house). I’m a long way from community living in the inner city, but I hope on the Lord that that is where He is calling me.

You don’t always have to give up everything you own to follow Jesus, but you do always have to give back everything you own to follow Jesus. Looking again at the rich young man, Jesus doesn’t simply tell him to sell everything and follow Him. Jesus says to sell everything and give it to the poor, the very people he will meet if he followed Jesus. Jesus wanted the rich young man to give back everything he owned to the ministry Jesus would have led him into.

Sometimes following Jesus doesn’t come with a fully coherent explanation or a fully baked plan (take what you’ve just read as an example). You can be more than willing to give back everything you have and still have an excuse not to: “God, yeah I’m willing to give you everything, but I need to know what’s going to happen. I need to plan this out to make sure I do this right.” What God has in store for us is beyond what we can imagine and prepare for. Be bold in your faith. When God calls, when the Spirit leads, when Jesus says follow me, just reply, “Okay.” No excuses. He doesn’t want to hear them, and you won’t like His answer.

What do you hold on to that makes you weary? If you truly want to be a disciple of Jesus, then start living like one. Jesus doesn’t ask us to infiltrate society and whisper a revolution into existence. He wants us to take the front door with the shouts of a revolution.

Ben Hsu, Calgary

Back in 1996, a TV show called, “Early Edition” aired and in it, the main character, Gary Hobson would have the next days newspaper delivered to him by a Tabby Cat.  Using the knowledge of the next day, Gary Hosbon would use that current day to try and stop human catastrophe’s from happening… it changed the very essence of his life sacrificing his brokerage job to help others…

What if you knew the exact day, hour and minute you were to pass away?  Would you live your life any differently than you are now?  Often times we’re too busy to think about such things in life and by the time it hits us… well, it’s too late to do anything about it.

As odd as this thought it, what would your epitaph read?  What would I want my epitaph to read? “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  There can be no higher honour for me than to hear that when I see Him face to face.  The difficult part for me and maybe for you is doing what God calls us to do in life…

What if you knew what it is that God wants us to do in this life?  Well, I can share here and now that God wants us to succeed in Him… To live in abundance… according to His will!  Matthew 25 speaks of both what he wants us to do in life and how we can live in abundance…

1) Acknowledge what God has given to us and be faithful stewards of those gifts… this could include strangers, this could include finances and family.

“His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ - Matthew 25:23

“For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.” - Matthew 25:29a

2) It’s pretty clear when God calls us to minister to his people… You may not know who it is, or what you need to do but… what each of us must be aware of is that in God’s favour and abundance we need to use that for the benefit of His people.  There is no shame in living in a nice house, making a six-figure income but if we can’t care for God’s people, what is it all for?  Would you want your epitaph to read, “Was wealthy beyond belief but cared for no one… God then said, away from me, I never knew you…”

“Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matthew 25:34-36

“Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  “The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ - Matthew 25:37-40

I pray that wherever you are in life, whatever job you’re working at, you will be faithful in what you’ve been given in terms of people, finances and family and when you receive the favour and abundance, you will remember those who are hungry, thirsty, aliens or immigrants, those in need of shelter/clothing and those incarcerated because, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Jesus).”… Amen.

I may not be able to share many nuggets of wisdom on practicing my faith in the workplace – mainly because I don’t have a job yet – but as I was thinking about a topic to blog about, I realized I could write about practicing my faith while trying to find a workplace.

After all, I should know all about the topic: I’ve been on the job search for one looong and nerve-wracking month so far. The last time I embarked on a job-hunt to join the real world, it lasted about a week. This was after I had graduated from my first degree in journalism and I quickly decided that there just were not any jobs out there for me. My response was to head back to school for a second degree (one that I didn’t really want). In truth, what happened was that I panicked. Instead of trusting that God would provide for me in His time, I decided that I needed to deploy my career backup plan immediately because obviously, the first degree just wasn’t panning out. After one week.

This time around though, with a little help from hindsight and some reassuring Bible verses, I have a different mindset. Although it is still easy to lapse into a frenzy of distraught thinking along the lines of “Am I going to depend on my boyfriend to pay for everything forever?” or “Two degrees, and I can’t find one decent paying job?”, I have decided to place my worries at God’s more than capable feet. One of my favourite battle cries is from the book of Joshua. The Lord commands Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). I give myself a bit of editorial freedom to turn those periods, commas and semi-colons into exclamation points and I happily repeat those words to myself before I, say, sit down for a job interview with a few potential employers.

Then, in quieter and calmer times, I like to refresh my faith in God with verses from the passage in Matthew entitled “Do Not Worry.” Addressing the writer as, “O you of little faith,” God reminds us, “your heavenly Father knows that you need [the basic necessities of life]. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:32-33). I remind myself daily that God knows what I need. He knows that I am heading into desperate waters financially, He knows that I don’t want to be lazy and that I want to start using some of my God-given talents in a bona fide job, and He knows that I want to be able to give this laptop that I’m typing on back to my boyfriend (I promised him he could have it back when I got a job!).

I can honestly say that I have been so blessed during this month of job searching. I feel much calmer this time around and I am not as prone to semi-hysterical thought processes when I think about my unemployment. But the main difference is that I truly trust that there IS a job for me out there that God has prepared for me. In fact, I feel as though there are jobs galore, a couple of which I have already been offered, and turned down. But I sincerely believe that when I finally do come across The Job, even if I manage to completely bungle the interview, if it is God’s will, He will fix it somehow and I will still miraculously be offered the job. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not holding out for the perfect dream job (i.e. I do not think that National Geographic will come knocking at my door inviting me to be one of their staff writers), but I do believe that God has prepared a job for me that will challenge me in all the right ways, at the right time. Whether I actually like it or not though, is another issue.

In the end, it’s important to keep everything in perspective. My happiness will not depend on a job, no matter how fantastic it is – my happiness will depend on my spiritual walk with God.

Esther Au, Calgary