Resist the Tyranny of the Unchangeable3/25/2020 Irish writer, Frank O’Connor, told the story of two boys standing beside a tall orchard wall launching a small, felt, round object up in the air like a Frisbee. If you had been there to see them, it would have looked strange—even foolish. With the enthusiasm of a college graduate, one of the boys hurls his hat and you arrive just in time to see it leave the hand of its owner and travel high—up and over an imposing and significant wall. You might have wanted to call out and say, “Why did you do that? Now you are going to have to climb over and get it!” To which, the boys would reply with sly and knowing grins, “Exactly. That’s the whole idea.” I appreciate this story because it teaches us to not only dream big dreams but actually to dare to do the impossible. Often, our thoughts on focused on small matters, which not only depletes us of our energy and diverts our attention, but it keeps us from achieving great things for the Kingdom of God. We worry over money, careers, current events, and even sports. Our worry may seem justifiable from a worldly perspective, but not according to the directives in Holy Scripture. Worrying robs us of our power to move mountains and is a sin against God. Jesus instructs us not to worry “about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear” (Matt. 6:25) because our “heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (v. 32). Our job is to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” and the result will be that the small matters will be taken care of by our Father (v. 33). God wants our trust as an expression of our faith (Heb. 11:6), but there is another reason that He tells us not to worry: it robs us of our daily grace. Each day we are apportioned an amount of grace (James 4:6) and that grace is to be combined with our faith to be used for great things. Worry diverts our energy from the great to the mundane. What does it mean to seek God’s kingdom as Jesus commands? First, it is the recognition that Jesus is King and we are to do what He tells us to do through His Word and His Spirit. Jesus tells us to do what He did while He was here on earth. “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). What an awesome responsibility and privilege to join in the redemptive work of Christ and do even greater things that He did while here on earth. What did he do on earth? According to Acts 10:38 (NLT): “And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” The Spirit came upon Jesus to do GOOD for others. When we worry then, we are using our spiritual energies on the futile and mundane. We are unable to change circumstances through worry and we are unable to be used to do the good work that God has planned for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). Often our energies are exhausted on mundane matters because we do not see them as such. The dictionary defines mundane as “of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one.” Jesus tells us that this world will pass away. Therefore, we should be investing our energies in the eternal matters of His kingdom (Matthew 6:19). Kingdom focus puts this world in perspective. We lose perspective when we lose our focus. Sometimes we allow ourselves to be distracted by the small things because it affords us a convenient excuse to ignore the larger matters. We actually welcome distraction and worry because we get the appearance of doing something while actually doing nothing. Here is an example: “I can’t serve right now because I have so many issues going on in my life. I just can’t do it.” This excuse is used so many times that I just do not even pay it mind because here is the truth: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). There is always going to be problems, but we have been given the strength to overcome them so that we can continue to work for the King rather than demanding the King work for us. Distraction leads to inaction or misdirected energies. We try to manipulate small matters because it seems to impossible actually to do something BIG. One commentator summarized Pope Francis’ message during a United States trip: “resist the tyranny of the unchangeable.” We should never believe that positive change is not possible. Jesus tells us “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). God wants to do the impossible through YOU—are you willing to toss your cap over the wall?
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Leave a Reply.AuthorDr. Rob Weinstein is the Founding/Senior Pastor of Bethany Grace Community Church in Bridgeton, NJ. He is also a Professor of Business Studies/Academic Director/Chair of Human Resource Management Studies. He is the Founder of the M25 Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness and food insecurity in Cumberland County, NJ. Archives
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