I thought we were finished! Finally, we could sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. After weeks of exhausting effort and the discomfort of trying something I do not feel especially well suited to do, I imagined the arrival and installation of our new kitchen appliances would quite nicely serve as an excellent finishing touch, like a perfectly placed cherry on the top of a banana split. I anticipated applause, affection, and adoration to come in waves from my family every time they walked across the new floor to get the milk from the new refrigerator, to pop a fresh bag of popcorn in the new microwave, to retrieve fresh cookies from the new oven, or to load dishes in the new dishwasher.
What was I thinking? Perhaps, by some fantastic estimation untouched by reality, a parent might justifiably expect one in five of their children may actually be glad for a new dishwasher. I should have known better. Such wild delusions of whimsy should have set off some sort of internal alarms in my mind. But, alas, I was unprepared for the real thief.
My fantasy began to be dismissed, blown away as one might wave off second-hand smoke, while the deliveryman showed me work I had not planned on that must be done before the appliances could be properly installed. My heart sank. Somewhere from deep inside my mind, a little boy was stomping the ground, waving his fist to the heavens, and whining, “It’s not fair! I thought I was done with all this! Not fair! Not fair! Not fair!”
I spoke today with a pastor friend of mine, a brother whom I hold in very high regard. He called to report where he had been the past year. We had not enjoyed any fellowship for twelve months. One year ago almost to the day, he had been riding high. In fact, we last spoke he radiated confidence and peace. He was fairly well busting out all over with joy and gratitude for where God had brought him and what God was doing in his life and ministry. He looked and sounded like a man who had just won a great race.
My friend is the founding pastor of the church he serves, and with constancy in his personal life and devotion in his ministry, he had laid a solid foundation upon which Lord Jesus Christ has been building His church. He overflowed with praise and thanksgiving when he told me last year that the church he pastors was about to baptize nearly 50 people in one service. Then, however, he went home from our meetings and found 6-8 months of turmoil that so troubled him that he nearly resigned.
In his voice, I could hear the same disappointment I felt about my kitchen, only his reason was more principled and his grief much more intense. He and the leaders of the church had worked hard and long. They had served faithfully, attained significant indicators of success, and had come to anticipate additional, perhaps even exponential growth as their momentum carried them on like a flywheel. Unexpectedly, however, they found themselves in a malaise, a kind of congregational depression. Within six months, this godly pastor assumed he was the problem. He reasoned that apparently he had taken the church has far as they could go without a change in leadership. He very nearly walked away.
Then they found sin in the camp. In the course of our phone conversation, this pastor related how they discovered a particular sin had crept into their church and begun to suck away life. As they applied themselves to deal with the core issue and the related breakdowns and losses that followed, the church seemed to be losing steam and families.
In a real sense, we are never truly finished here. So long as we breathe the air of these shadowlands, we have more to do with this life. We have not arrived – and never will in this life. While we live in the land of second chance, we are ever in the process of arriving. We will enter the joy of our Master’s rest when we get Home.
The enemy would have us settle. He would mislead us to substitute a poor facsimile of rest and reward here for that which Father holds for the faithful who do well, who finish well. Our foe would lead us to believe we deserve a break; we have worked hard, achieved some measure of success, and should now relax. Of course, the enemy would then have us fruitless, vulnerable, and unprepared to seize the opportunities God presents daily.
What did my pastor friend do? They faced the facts and applied biblical truth to their situation. They lost a number of families as well. At the end of the year, though, the church had actually continued to grow. Moreover, they had become more firmly rooted in the Word and in love. The pain produced new, unexpected advances in their pursuit of the kingdom. My brother also gained valuable insights that refreshed him personally and better armed him for ministry in Christ’s name.
What should we do when we realize we have more work to do? Face the facts. Adjust our aim for higher ends. Put one foot in front of the other and get back in the fray. Purpose to finish and to finish well.
I will finish my kitchen. By God’s grace and my wife’s patience, I will aim even to finish it well. I can endure today’s disappointments and unforeseen toil with the knowledge that God is not finished with me yet either.
To the ends of the earth until the end of time!
Pastor Rob
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